


sore kara...

by XDDD



Series: Ipsen Avon [1]
Category: Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-05-16
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-07 04:32:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 34
Words: 108,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6785332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XDDD/pseuds/XDDD
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(FF7/8/9 Crossover) Pushed by time compression beyond the known era and dimension, how can four vastly different individuals rediscover the value of teamwork against the unknown darkness, without losing their grasp on reality?</p><p>But then again - what is reality?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. deau

Standard disclaimers apply.

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
deau

 

The Sleeping Forest was known for it's ability to put a being without the Lunar Harp to sleep without any intention of ever releasing them from the slumber. Anyone sane and informed avoided stepping into the Forest because of this. And even if one DID possess the Harp, it was usually after much thought and consideration that he would eventually decide to cross the forest with it.

After all, what laid beyond the Forest was the legacy and knowledge of the Ancients -- of which, not all are ready to peer and inspect.

\-------------------------------

Cloud didn't know what had inspired him to come here.

The only thing he could think of was that he had needed firewood, since his temporary abode at the Chocobo Sage's house had run dry recently. But he always got his firewood from the Bone Village's forests nearer to the beaches, so why should this time be any different? Yet if it wasn't for the firewood, he could come up with no other reason, or excuse, for him being present in the mysterious forest. He folded his arms across his chest and thought for a while.

The serenity of the forest was impeccable. It was quiet enough to let him hear the voices.

\-------------------------------

"I think," began a hoarse, almost unwilling voice, "it's further down there."

With a bit of a strain, the dark-haired teenager managed to point towards the bright light emitting from what appeared to be the boundary of the forest.

"......" went the target of his suggestion, who opened his mouth but was unable to form any words with his voice. Nonetheless, he gave a slow nod and shifted his burden - an unconscious blond with a tail, around carefully. After making sure the burden's arm hung comfortably around his shoulders, he started to limp towards the unseen destination.

"Hey," footsteps on the soft grass behind forced them to turn back.

\-------------------------------

Cloud only had to glance at them once to see the despondancy that hung around them, especially the dark-haired scar-faced teenager, like a thick gloom. Nevertheless, he trusted his instinct and pressed on with walking towards them until they could see him clearly and he, them.

They looked at him with confusion evident on their faces.

He blinked.

"The toilet's not that way, you know."

Cloud proceeded to say.

There was a pause.

And they looked at him with more confusion evident on their faces.

"I mean," Cloud scratched his head, feeling the need to justify what he had just said, "your friend," he pointed at the blond with a tail, "is drunk, right? If you're looking for an inn or a toilet, it's not that way," he nodded.

There were a few more seconds of confusion.

Then the two of them wavered and fell to the floor simultaneously. Needless to say, the already unconscious soul also fell along.

"Hey!" Cloud immediately ran forward to check on them. They were still breathing, though a couple of them had rather weak signs of life. He quickly dug around his pockets for any curative materia or items he could use, settling for a few hi-potions and his restore materia. After trying unsuccessfully to first revive them with a few phoenix downs, he shook his head and realized that it was going to take a lot more than revival and curative magic to snap these guys out of it. He fished out his PHS and requested for some help from Bone Village.

\-------------------------------

"Eh, no problem kid, eh," the gruffy excavator adjusted his equally gruffy looking helmet and reassured Cloud, "probably just passed out coz they ain't got the Lunar Harp, eh," he put his arms on his hips and shook his head, turning to Cloud. "Funny, coz I ain't seen 'em pass through the Village to the forest at all... wonder which dimension they dropped out from, eh?" He mused randomly. "Anyway, that'll be 5000 gil, thank you very much, eh."

Cloud turned around from attempting to administer a phoenix down on one of the downed persons, literally bristling. "It never used to be so expensive," he complained slightly, "and I wasn't doing any excavation at all!"

The man shrugged. "Times are hard, boy," he chuckled, walking to his seat outside the tent, slouching in it as he usually did. "You can leave your friends here and go get the dosh somewhere else, of course, but longer they stay, the more you'll hafta pay," he continued, pulling his helmet down to shade his face from the sun, "now, I'll be taking a little nap, eh, so be a good boy and bring me my money."

For a while, Cloud considered kicking the chair the money-grubbing excavator was resting on and then carting the three of them somewhere else cheaper. But when he thought about it, since he was going to have to pay him anyway, might as well make the money worthed it. Shrugging, he strapped his weapon to it's usual place on his back and trottered off to find some monsters to bully.

\-------------------------------

Darkness had always been confusing, for it meant many things. Perhaps it was night? Or maybe it was just that there wasn't any light. Perhaps he was dead, but then again, he could just be asleep...

Kuja woke up.

It hurt to open his eyes, or even move any part of the body, so he stayed perfectly still and thought about it for a while.

Aches in his body, blood in his mouth, a few sore spots around his face and the fact that his hair was starting to itch...

... that means he was still alive.

The next thing he noticed was that there were noises of metal being struck on hard rock - a sign that he wasn't trapped within the tendrils of the Iifa tree roots and was possibly somewhere safe in an excavation site, maybe Fossil Roo. An entire weight lifted from his shoulders at the onset of such knowledge. Even breathing became easier. Soon, he felt confident enough to open his eyes.

He didn't see dark, brown stalactites hanging from the ceiling of a deep, looming cavern. In fact, what he was laying on at the moment didn't feel like soil either. Fragments of memories escaped him while he tried to piece together the happenings. Nothing really made sense then, owing to his confused state of mind, but nevertheless he made sure his eyes had adjusted fully to the light and space before climbing up into a half-seated position to examine the surroundings more carefully.

It was a cosy tent, snug enough to fit maybe four to five full-growns, though at the moment, including him there were only 3. A dark-haired teenager laid at his feet muttering incoherently, and beside him...

... Zidane.

Slight panic arose within him as he looked at the motionless figure, quickly bending over to check on the boy. The sudden movement caused some creaky bones to ignite and forced him back on the mattress he was lying on. He groaned, making a note to keep the aerobics out until he was certified ready to do so.

That meant he had plenty of time awake and unmoving to recall and consider. What had happened, where they were at, who was involved, and why they weren't at the Iifa tree.

He shut his eyes, deciding on a rest which eventually swept him into sleep.

\-------------------------------

"... 4989... 4994... 4999... 5000! There!" Cloud emptied out the gil he had picked off the monsters roaming around outside the Village into the helmet of the gruffy excavator. Before the latter had a chance to express his gratitude, Cloud slapped another 500 gil into the man's palm. "We're staying a coupla' hours more, then I'm moving them out somewhere cheaper." He said, and without waiting for a reply, entered the resting tent.

"Thank you for your hospitality." Came the disembodied voice from within the tent, definitely sarcastic.

The man outside merely laughed strangely and poured the gil back into a sack underneath his chair. He then put the helmet back where it was supposed to be and sniggered some more. The smell of money sure was a great lullaby to his sleep.

\-------------------------------

"Hmmm..." Cloud put his arms akimbo and carefully considered his options. There were four people, and one gold chocobo. How were they all going to fit? No chance of getting either one of them to wake up and do the walk-walk thing either, but he really wanted to avoid paying the excavator anything more than what he had already. There were some things he wouldn't stand for, and one of that included daylight robbery.

Should he cart them back one by one? Should he throw all of them on the chocobo and trust that they would reach the Chocobo Sage's house without any mishaps, while he took a slow stroll back? Or maybe it would be better to just leave them here, run away and never come back to pay the bill - assuming they would eventually wake up and pay the bill themselves. He sighed. Responsibilities and decisions were never his favourite part of life.

"Where," a weak voice asked, along with the rustling of some cloth, "are we?"

At this, Cloud spun around to locate the owner of the voice, eyes finally resting on the silver-haired person on the mattress nearest to him. Good. At least one of them was awake. Might as well make some friends while they still owed him money, Cloud thought funnily to himself.

"You're at Bone Village." He was saying. "I found you guys at the Sleeping Forest, apparently drunk or something - since no one sober goes in there without the Harp." He paused for a while, as if suddenly remembering something. The silver guy raised an eyebrow when Cloud began searching his pockets. A while later, a hi-potion emerged and was thrown to him. He caught it with grace.

Cloud shrugged and seated himself on one of the wooden crates stacked in the corner of the tent, saying, "My name's Cloud Strife, you can call me Cloud. Anyway, you probably need that," he pointed to the hi-potion, "and your two friends too. But I'll have to wait until they get up first."

With that, he folded his arms and laid backwards against the filmsy tent wall.

"What's your name, by the way?"

The man looked at him silently.

"... Kuja."

He then cringed, wondering what Cloud would say, now that he knew who it was he had just saved.

"Kuja, huh," Cloud grinned idiotically, scratching his head a little, "that's a kindda weird name, hmm... you must be from Wutai. Well, nice to meet you. Hey, I got a favour I need to ask of you... think you can be strong enough in about an hour to help?"

Kuja's face spelt 'Information Overload' in flashing neon letters. What?? This guy wasn't the least bit bowled over by the fact that he just saved the man who had tried to destroy the world? And what's this about an Wutai... ? Now that things were beginning to make more sense, he remembered hearing about a Bone Village and a Sleeping Forest... both of which never existed in either Gaia or Terra. What's going on... ? Kuja closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and decided that he should try to work things out systematically for now.

"... I think I should be able to stand in about an hour," Kuja told Cloud. He then paused, thinking. "No wait, let me try that now," he said, throwing the blanket off and then getting up on one knee. It hurt, definitely, but not as much as he thought it would. Besides, he had a hi-potion he could enjoy later. Soon, he was up on both feet, a little unstable, but at least not as pathetic as lying motionless on the ground. He dusted some imaginary soil off his thighs, smirking slightly to himself. "... there. That should do it."

"Cool." Cloud nodded, showing no obvious emotion other than the occasional smile. "Can you walk?"

"Walk?" Kuja raised an eyebrow. "I can try, but why would I want to do that for?"

At this, Cloud sighed. He walked a little closer and whispered, "You know, we can't like, stay here forever, coz the bozo out there is over-charging us, so I'm thinking of packing and moving before he decides to slap another big fat bill on my already empty pocket." He laughed nervously.

Kuja remained thoughtful for a while, though Cloud had no idea what was it he had so much to think about. Noticing that the other's glance had slowly wandered to the still unconscious people on the ground, Cloud spoke up again, saying, "Don't worry about the two of them. Once we get them to my temporary abode further north from here, there'll be more space for you guys to rest and recuperate."

The silver-haired man's glance never left the floor, as he said, "Can I ask you something, which might seem ridiculous and repetitive?"

"..." went Cloud, who had seen all kinds of freaks in the world, "... shoot," he told Kuja.

"Where are we?"

"... Bone Village." Cloud smiled a little.

"Hmm... okay." Kuja put a finger to his lips. "But that still doesn't answer my question. Where is this Bone Village you keep talking about? Is it anywhere near Fossil Roo?"

"... ?" It was Cloud's turn to be mystified. "Fossil what?" He shook his head firmly. "Bone Village is on the nothern continent, if that's what you're asking about. As for Fossil Roo, I have never heard about it before."

"Fossil Roo is the tunnel joining the Mist Continent and the Outer Continent." Kuja put his hand down and put them on his hips instead, posing like the vainpot he was. "Maybe your tribe has some personal jargon for them which I don't know of? I've never seen glowing eyes before, come to think about it..."

"I think you must be the one with the jargon, because I have no idea what you just said." Cloud scratched his head in confusion, question marks sprouting all over his head.

"..." went Kuja and Cloud.

"Oh, nevermind." Kuja waved a hand and turned around, bending down to check on Zidane. "So what's your plan for now, Mr. Know-it-all-and-more?"

"The name's Cloud." Cloud sighed. He strolled slowly over to where Kuja was and knelt down as well. "I have a gold chocobo outside, ready to take us back. For now, just help me carry one of the boys here. Our first priority is to get out of the village."

"Will can do." Kuja nodded and heaved Zidane over his shoulders. He looked at the other person on the floor for a while, on the verge of asking another question. When Cloud looked at him expectantly, he shook his head and smiled thinly. "No, nothing. Let's go."

\-------------------------------  
deatta  
16/5/2001


	2. mezameru

Standard disclaimers apply.

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
mezameru

 

As a result of sudden downpour, by the time Cloud and Kuja managed to get back to the Chocobo Sage's house, all four of them had had their share of being beaten all over by the rain and blown all over by the chill. After throwing Zidane down somewhere near the fireplace, Kuja heaved his armour off without a second word and set them in front of the fireplace as well. Cloud had a bit more of a difficulty trying to get his gold chocobo to sit still in the stable while balancing the dark-haired teenager on his left shoulder. He pouted slightly when he saw Kuja plopping down on the floor beside the fire. He was hoping for *at least* a little help.

"Hey," Kuja was saying, without turning his head from the fireplace, "why didn't you just fly your gold chocobo here instead of running up the mountains with it?"

He heard a noise, which sounded like Cloud falling over an array of household furniture. A while later, Cloud replied, "Chocobos don't fly, they only run. Even if they ARE gold chocobos."

This caused Kuja to instinctively raise an eyebrow - something he'd been doing since starting a conversation with Cloud on his way back. For some weird reason or another, nothing they talk about seem to tally, from the physical location of certain places in the world to now, even the functions of the different breeds of chocobos. Something was wrong with either the world, Cloud, himself, or all three of the above at the same time, as unlikely as it might seem.

He looked around for anything that might amuse him while Zidane and his armour dried. As promised, it was a humble, simple house. The fireplace was situated on a platform which was adjoined to the lower floor (which housed the chocobo and all it's necessities) by a small flight of steps.

There was a narrow but long table which protruded out of the second floor to overlook the first, with railings to prevent things from slipping down, apparently. The one and only chair in the small house was stacked ceiling high with volume upon volume of books and magazines - some of which were rather dusty and old. Towards the far end of the table, where it joined the stone wall to make a small corner, there were several plates and dishes. Whoever stayed here had probably anticipated guests only once in a long while, by the look of the condition of some of the plates. The small shelve between the fireplace and the oblong table had more books, but those were relatively seasoned. Kuja found his eyes wandering to look at some of the names on the spines of the books as well as the picture of the chocobo hanging above the small shelve, and wondering if Cloud was a rabid chocobo fan.

"This isn't my house," Cloud spoke up from behind, as if on cue, with a gigantic pile of chocobo hay in his arms, "I'm only staying here until the Chocobo Sage comes back."

"The Chocobo Sage?" Kuja found himself asking almost incredulously.

"He's a hermit who lives all by himself in this little house, until Choco Billy managed to pull him out and get him to help out with some of the chocobo breeding stuff at his farm." Cloud helpfully offered, arranging the hay into four neat stacks across the top platform. "I'm not surprised you don't know him."

"Oh," was the semi-convinced reply. Then, "Are we going to sleep on those piles of hay tonight?"

He almost regretted asking, when he saw Cloud looking at him with that 'what are you talking about?!' look on his face. "Unless you wanna sleep on the ground, or the grass outside," Cloud shrugged, "doesn't really bother me. I've always been sleeping on hay."

If he saw Kuja pout royally, he did a good job of hiding his reaction.

"But I'm NOT going to stand for smelling like a chocobo in the morning!" Kuja whined. He then proceeded to examining his nails and scratching his hair. "Don't you have ANY clean water around here I can use to wash my wounds or something? I'm developing dandruff!"

Cloud turned around from setting the other two on the hay stacks with a Look on his face which might have made Sephiroth take 3 steps back, but was completely lost on the whining Kuja, needless to say. "Since you're so adamant on water, actually, there's a well at the back yard you could use." He pointed towards the door. "Hey, and get a few buckets while you're at it, eh?" He grinned. "Can't let you guys stay here without asking something out of you, can I?"

The once-world-destroyer-to-be stared at space mildly, for a while, before picking himself off the floor, grabbing one of the trenchcoats hanging on the hangers near the door, and trotting out in search of the well in the backyard.

"..." went Cloud. *Just how does he walk around in those thongs anyway??* He mused silently to himself, wondering not for the first time, at Kuja's choice of... or rather, lack of clothing; especially when they were at the nothern continent. Those were the kind of things he'd only wear to Costa del Sol, for crying out loud! He picked up the purple-and-gold armour and shook some rain off it. At least this was a decent piece of armour, though it looked expensive and weighed a ton.

Cloud put the armour down and sighed.

Maybe if he could get the other two to wake up, things would be much easier to figure out. Right now, he and Kuja were working cordially well together on an intangible piece of goodwill they'd somehow written for each other. That wasn't going to last for long until they could find something more tangible to work on. For now, it seemed like the fact that they had to take care of the casualties was doing it, but really, this wasn't the kind of thing that was going to eventually help in the long run.

One step at a time perhaps? A little voice inside of him said. He smiled slightly.

Yeah, one step at a time.

\-------------------------------

The pails filled up one by one, every bucketful making the apparatus groan with old age. After a while, Kuja stopped tugging the pulley, the bucket still halfway within the darkness of the well. He looked up beyond the starry night, beyond the high mountains surrounding them. He wasn't admiring the scenary, that was for sure. There was something else on his mind. From out of nowhere, a smile appeared on his lips. He hurled the bucket right back into the well, then started chanting.

When he finished the water spell, the 5 spare empty buckets arranged around the stone well were filled to the brim. With a wave of his hand, just like he did to the Gulug Stone, the buckets floated easily into the air and trailed after him obediently as he made his way back. Kuja nearly laughed out loud to himself. He could get used to this.

\-------------------------------

The silver-haired ex-villian strolled casually into the cozy little house and arranged the buckets neatly side by side in front of the chocobo's drinking bay. Halfway towards the second floor on the stairs, he could see his host with eyes closed in concentration, towering over the two unconscious beings comfortably laid out on the hay stacks. Although curious about what he was doing, it didn't feel appropriate to ask at the moment. He quietly got his dried out armour on the floor and put it back on.

Needless to say, he was entirely startled when Cloud cast Full Cure on the two unconscious beings. When the stars of restoration faded away into the background, the spikey-headed mercenary scratched his head at the apparent failure of the spell. The unconscious beings were still unconscious. He shut his eyes and prepared for another round.

Kuja turned away, pretending to be interested in something else. *I didn't know Cloud was a white mage.* He frowned, noticing the size of the Ultima Weapon and a few other assorted, oversized swords that hung at the far end of the room. The Ultima Weapon in particular caught his eye. Where had he seen that weapon before... ?

"Hey," came a voice from behind him. Kuja turned around just in time to catch a green orb flung at him from Cloud, "give me a hand here, will you?"

Kuja's face plunged into everlasting confusion, as his head started mushrooming with question marks.

"You know," Cloud pointed at the green orb, which was pulsating with a weird glow, "use my restore materia to help hand out some cure spells."

*Your restore what???!* Kuja thought to himself ludicruously, but didn't make his thoughts known. Instead he said, "Cure spells huh?"

Cloud nodded, but stared at Kuja for a trite bit longer. "Speaking of cures, I think you need some yourself." He smiled lopsidedly, pointing a finger at him. Green light emancipating from his armoured hand and travelling gently towards Kuja. The lattar started, almost jumping when the cool green sparkles touched him and began randomly repairing whatever had been broken or sore. Soon, however, he felt infinitely better than ever. Even water wouldn't have been so helpful.

The light-headedness of the cure spell was cut off when Cloud stopped it. "You better now?" The mercenary asked. Kuja merely smiled in his own artful sort of way. Quick to note the success of the spell, Cloud proceeded to focus on the other two subjects on hand, beckoning for the other to come and help as well.

Kuja, however, found himself being able to do nothing but observe Cloud hand out cure after cure. Although he *was* feeling better, and was comfortable enough to use his Curaga spell, he didn't want to. The more interesting thing on hand here was the green orb and the matter of Cloud's abilities. No white mage ever carried swords *that* huge around. And this green thing... it felt strange holding it. Just what in the world was it... some kind of a 'materia'? He sighed. None of this was making any sense. He then put the green orb onto the rectangular desk, turning to look at some of the books in the house.

"Hmm," he heard Cloud say, and could almost picture him stroking his chin in confusion, "no effect at all... just what's bitten these guys anyway?" Kuja chuckled and almost wanted to say something about the sentient roots of a raving Iifa Tree, but thought the better of that. Besides, he had NO IDEA who the other guy, other than Zidane, was. But since Cloud had been so happy about being nice guy of the year... well, he could save anybody he wanted. It was none of Kuja's business. He turned the page of the book.

"Hey!"

The silver-haired man turned slightly.

"I thought I told you to help out!" Cloud frowned and put his arms akimbo. His glance then turned to the green materia orb lying on the table. "You're a magic user aren't you?" He asked, almost hesitantly.

At this, Kuja turned his head and lifted a finger. Sparkles danced around it until they grew into a full sized vortex, ready to spew magic on it's target. Cloud nearly jumped as the Curaga spell hit the two people on the floor. He paused for a good 3 seconds, then looked up at his guest with shock written all over his face.

"How did you do that?"

Kuja frowned, turning another page of the book. "How did I do what?"

"*THAT*!" Cloud expounded, leaving Kuja speechless at his expansive vocabulary. Cloud then continued, "Cast magic... without materia!"

The ex-villian tilted his head and wrinkled his nose, looking up at the ceiling in semi-thought. Here it was again... this whole thing about materia was really creeping him to no end. Putting the book aside, he turned and struck a pose, looking at Cloud at the same time.

"... I've been having doubts since speaking with you at the... Bone Village." He said the words as if they had been a new concept in Maths. "... the names you provide, the things you do, the places you go... even the chocobos you ride! Tell me, is this, or is this not Gaia? Or have I simply tangoed into some tangent of time and space; landing in a land I know nothing of?"

It took Cloud a while to absorb all of that. He *had* sensed something out of place with Kuja since meeting him, but at that time, he hadn't exactly put much thought to it. But now that the subject of the matter was questioning him about it, all the more it forced him to think logically about it. All the while, he had thought maybe they were just talking about the same thing but referring to it using different names. Now, however, he wasn't so sure.

"You know," Cloud finally said, "I'm not putting ANYTHING beyond you and me, right now." He paused, searching for the right words. "For a fact, you and I cast magic differently. I can't explain that, and I don't think I ever will, without more research. But let's look at it this way, to be *able* to cast magic in the first place, implies that there's something common in both our... worlds, that we draw from... no?" He waited for Kuja's reaction. When there was none, he continued anyway. "Anyway, we speak the same language, we cast the same spells. That puts us on the same level for a lot of things. And, really... does anything else matter?" Cloud scratched his head. "As long as we're not trying to destroy the world or anything?"

Kuja cleared his throat, just to be courteous.

"Maybe if your friends wake up, we can get down to talking about it more." Cloud smiled. "I don't see what's more important right now."

As much as he'd hate to admit it, and therefore postpone this confrontation until a later time, Kuja had to agree. Before he had time to answer, a figure on the hay stack stirred. Immediately snapping his head around, he had hoped to see Zidane sitting up, clutching his head and mumbling a string of curses. At least it would have been comforting to have someone you knew by your side, nevermind he was your mortal enemy.

But it was someone else who had stirred.

"............" went the dark-haired teenager as he flip-flopped around the hay stack deliriously. He opened his mouth a few times, and finally managed to say, "....... Rinoa......" before coming to a halt with his movements.

Cloud and Kuja turned and looked at each other.

"Hey, don't look at me like that," Cloud shook his head and quickly stepped back, "I have absolutely no idea what a Rinoa is."

Kuja chuckled, "Maybe it's martian for 'water'."

They laughed.

"Okay. Let's test the theory." Cloud rose and went down the stairs to grab one of the buckets of water Kuja had brought back. Soon, he had it positioned directly above the sleeping teenager with a sort of evil grin on his face. The ignorant victim merely turned to his side and murmured for more Rinoas.

"Sorry dude," Cloud said, and tilted the bucket over, "no hard feelings, 'kay?"

\- SPLASH! -

"................. !!!"

"Ahahahahahahah! AAAHAHAHAHAHAH!!"

The first coherent sentence after the deed was actually Cloud's, "Woah, it worked! The dude is up!" He then took two steps back.

The victim, for his part, utterly failed to see the point of it all. He leapt to his feet quickly and did a familiar horizontal slash kind of movement with his right arm, in silent demand for an explanation.

"You know, you'll have to tell us what you want so we can help you." Kuja stopped laughing, said that, then went back to laughing.

"..................." went the stranger. Then, "What the hell did you do that for?!"

"..................." Kuja mimicked the stranger, and said, "All the easier to wake you up with, my dear!" then relapsed into his laughing streak. The stranger grew more sullen than he already was. He pouted. And looked really hilarious.

Cloud, on the other hand, was cheerful as usual. "Don't be so blue," he said. After all, he was one step closer to collecting his debt back. Tossing the boy a dry towel, he asked, "You might need that. What's your name, by the way? You can call me Cloud."

"........................................" went the stranger, in an even longer silence. Finally, he said, "... Squall."

Cloud nodded in a funny sort of way, "So, what's this Rinoa you keep murmuring about?" he asked, then observed as Squall turned red, obviously not believing this. The first thing he comes across after all that time compression nonsense just HAD to be two idiots!

"... Rinoa's not a thing. She's a girl." Squall offered. Cloud immediately perked up as he caught on, while Kuja; also catching on, merely used it as an excuse to keep on laughing. Squall was visibly irritated. He pointed at the silver-haired ex-villian. "Can you get your friend to stop laughing? He's beginning to annoy me."

There was silence. Except for Kuja laughing.

"My friend?" Cloud raised an eyebrow. "Isn't he YOUR friend??"

There was silence. Even Kuja stopped laughing.

"You must be kidding!" Kuja vainly flicked his silver tresses around. "Zidane, you could call him my friend, but Squall over here..." he turned and looked at the sullen teenager, "... may feel familiar," he added, although unsure of where it came from, "but this is definitely the first time I've ever met him."

This forced the three of them into some sort of a hiatus. Even the air stood still. Cloud slowly leaned over, fingers twiddling, feet tapping, eyes serious. Kuja drummed his fingers impatiently against the wooden table, obviously in deep thought. Squall was reduced to looking back and forth at the two of them. "Can someone tell me just what the heck is going on?" he asked, almost demanded.

"Squall," Cloud looked at the younger boy, a strange intensity visible within his eyes, "Kuja," he then added, surprising the ex-villian, who hadn't expected to be addressed, "I have a favour to ask - of both of you, and your friend... Zidane?" His last word went out as a question, to which he got a slight nod back from Kuja. He nodded back appreciatively.

"Let's go to Midgar," he said, ignoring the 'whattheheckismidgar' looks on both Squall and Kuja's faces, "once everybody is ready enough to travel."

 

\-------------------------------  
mezameta  
20/5/2001


	3. tatakau

Standard disclaimers apply.

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
tatakau

 

The next day found Squall atop the roof of the Chocobo Sage's house with some planks, nails, and a hammer. He lifted a gloved hand to shield his eyes from the piercing rays of the sun as it rose slowly in the background. It was a good thing they couldn't feel the sun the way they could see it, otherwise he'd be wondering about how to stop drowning in sweat instead.

The blue in the sky reminded him of someone. After gazing longingly for a few more moments, he sighed and picked up the tools.

How did he get into this mess? He frowned, nailing a plank over one of the cracks in the roof. They had defeated Ultimecia, but time compression had already occurred. The last thing he remembered hearing was someone crying out a warning about not falling into any time warps and getting trapped somewhere...

... someone cried out a warning...

... who... ?

The hammer slipped off his hand and rolled noisily down the roof. He clutched his head, trying to grasp the memories that came so close but failing terribly. Who? Who was it he had fought together with? Why were there no faces where the people stood? All he could see was a murky picture of a few smiling faces. Some were jumping, some were laughing. They were all very noisy. Then there was the familiar colour of blue. Could it be Balamb Garden? No... it wasn't a place, but a person... a person he knew very well...

"Hey!" A voice from below the roof jerked him out of his train of thought. He cautiously peeked over to see Kuja with one hand on his hip and the other with the hammer he had dropped. "Can you please be more careful with your tools? You almost killed me!" He pouted, and ended up looking like a school girl, even if he WAS twenty-four and male. Squall rolled his eyes.

"Whatever," he then reached out his right hand, "can I have the hammer back, then?"

He got the hammer back and watched with slight amusement as Kuja sashayed his way to the small plantation in the front of the house. That was an interesting guy if he ever saw one. He could still remember the expression on his face when Cloud asked him to 'till the fields' that morning. Although not having known the silver-haired man for long, he knew enough to tell that tilling the fields wasn't exactly his cup of tea. His expression had become even more classic when Cloud denied him usage of magic to aid with the tilling ("Kuja, you don't use earth magic to till fields unless you're trying to demolish the house, too!"). Still, it didn't stop the blond from handing him a shovel and some gloves. And Kuja knew his opinions didn't matter at all.

So here they were, a bright and sunny morning, working their butts off fixing the roof and loosening the soil. Cloud had rode the chocobo off to some village of bones, or so Squall remembered, to stock up on items before they made the journey to that famous city from the Norse legends. Squall frowned.

He hadn't heard Cloud's story, or Kuja's story for that matter. And things were happening so quickly, he hadn't had a chance to tell him *his* story. Somehow, he knew they'd have time for that, but right now, he still wished he knew at least a little of what was going on. He had fallen into a time warp. That he was sure of. Could have kicked himself for being so careless and stupid, unable to let go of the past and all so much so that he couldn't find the present. Once things softened up, he was going to ask for help to get out of this crazy compression. He sighed again, hitting the nails systematically into the planks.

So engrossed he was, he didn't see the Behemoth charging in from the plains across the fields until it was too late.

\-------------------------------

Kuja pushed the shovel into the ground, cursing and swearing to nobody in particular. As much as he hated to admit it, Zidane was beginning to rub off him. He would have snorted at some of the words he was saying now in the past, but all he wanted to do now was to shout them out to the open fields. What in the world was he doing??? He destroyed Terra, trapped the Crystal, almost destroyed Gaia, created Memoria, found the Crystal World... just when HAD he converted from a full-time villian to a part-time farmer anyway?

Although it still didn't change the fact that he was going to die soon, he was glad that he at least had a chance to make amends to the world he almost destroyed. Oh well, that meant he needed to exercise more patience with those around him. He flicked his hair out of his face, lifting the shovel into a preparative position.

"Hmph!" He brought the shovel down. "Patience, Kuja, patience!" Some soil flew out where the shovel went. "What's this compared to trying to take over the world? You can do this! I know you can!"

The low growl from afar forced him to look up from the soil, however. Squall was still perched atop the roof, nailing the planks in with a bored look on his face. But what Squall failed to notice Kuja did, and he almost thought he wouldn't be able to make it when he levitated towards the jaded teenager and abruptly kicked him off the roof. The boy gave a yelp of surprise, but managed to find his feet before landing onto the ground. At that precise moment, the purple Behemoth leapt, flew and tore the roof apart, leaving only the body of the house intact. The beast snorted and turned around to face it's two prey, bloodshot eyes suggesting the unnaturalness of it's existence.

"What the-" Squall immediately whipped out his Lion Heart from hammerspace, getting into battle position. Kuja threw away the shovel, all too glad to be rid of that ungraceful tool, and got into battle position as well. "Since when did Behemoths become sentient?!" Squall asked, in that demanding little tone of his. Kuja turned his head and shrugged.

"How would I know?" Was the plantitive reply. Then, "Here it comes! Watch out!"

Both barely managed to leap out of the way as the Behemoth charged at full speed towards them. The beast was surprisingly fast despite it's bulk, and the fact that it seemed pretty anal over something didn't help. It roared, tossing it's head and two front legs high into the sky, at the same time releasing a jet of poisonous fume into the air. Kuja tossed a wind spell and carried most of it away, but before Squall had the chance to close in with his gunblade, it landed it's front legs and caused a massive earthquake around the region.

Kuja immediately fell over, but Squall managed to keep his ground. While his unlikely partner-in-battle tried to quickly jump back to his feet, Squall sneaked behind the purple thing and slashed-and-shot with his might at it's back. The beast roared in pain, turning around and getting ready to toss Squall into the air if need be. "Crap." Was the only thing Squall could say as he got ready to defend himself from the attack.

Before the beast could move, however, a blinding white light flashed across the area as a flare of energy burst through from the skies. It converged and rounded itself around the Behemoth, making the beast retreat in all directions in an attempt to get the sparkles away. Finally, the energy gathered at the center of the Behemoth and exploded outwards, seemingly tearing the beast apart in a none-too-civil manner. Squall leapt backwards to avoid having to pick monster guts off his hair. When the light simmered down, he could see that the beast was still in one piece, lying on the ground in a helpless heap. He frowned, but didn't say anything as Kuja walked over and examined the body.

"Oh well," Kuja stood up, hands akimbo, inwardly praising himself for the wise use of Holy, "good thing he didn't tear apart, or I don't know what Cloud'll say when he gets back here later."

For some weird reason or another, Squall could imagine the spikey-headed mercenary screaming his head off, ranting about how the Chocobo Sage was going to kill him, then forcing the both of them to sweep up the pulsating organs into a bin before personally incinerating them with the strongest fire spell he had. He chuckled at the weird expression on Kuja's face, confident that the sorcerer was thinking along the same lines.

"What are we going to do with it?" Kuja mused. Squall's mind, however, was on something else.

"I think," he said, turning to look at the house, "we have an even bigger problem at hand."

They both looked at the house.

"Noo~~~" Kuja put both his hands on his head, terrified, "Cloud is gonna kill us," he declared.

"And we're all gonna die of frostbite tonight," Squall was slightly more optimistic, believing more in natural death than death by violent hands, "whoever heard of sleeping in a roofless house so far up north?" he almost grinned, finding the entire episode morbidly amusing. Noticing that Kuja wasn't even paying attention, he sighed and walked towards the house instead. Might as well inspect the inside to see how bad the damages were, while he was at it.

He knelt down somewhere near a portion of the damaged roof now on the ground. The tiles had flown all over, and needless to say there was no point in trying to even fix them. What he was surprised at was how clean the roof had been torn off from it's buckles. It was as if the Behemoth's purpose had been the roof all along. Although it didn't make any much sense as why it would suddenly develop an attitude and start attacking when nobody provoked it in the first place...

Footsteps sounded out in front of him. Glancing upwards, he could vaguely make out a blond head looking down at him with curiousity.

"Cloud?" He asked, slowly getting up. When he rose to full height, all he saw was a tired face of the blond who had been lying in the hay stack all along, from when he was abruptly awoken by cold water to when he left to fix the roof that morning. The new guy flashed him a careless smile, putting his hands on his hips as he did that. From the back of his subconsciousness, another name popped into his mouth.

"... Zidane?" He pronounced the name with caution, wondering if he had gotten that right. Zidane's tail swished around playfully, but he didn't acknowledge the call.

"Zidane?" Came another voice from behind Squall. He turned to see Kuja walking slowly away from the body of the Behemoth to where he stood, and remembered that it was only last night Kuja was saying that he was friends with this Zidane guy. When Kuja stopped in front of Zidane, there was a queer expression on both of their faces. Squall merely stood to the side, eyeing them both oddly. "You... You're awake!" Kuja finally smiled and said, eyes glossing over ever so slightly. He was about to say something else when Zidane took a step back cautiously.

"..." Went the monkey boy, appearing to be disorientated. Looking up at the both of them, he finally said, "... do I know you?"

Time stood still.

"Hell," Zidane scratched his head and gave a silly grin, "for that matter, is Zidane supposed to be my name? I can't remember, you know." He shrugged.

For a really long time, Squall observed Kuja staring in disbelief at Zidane, and Zidane staring back like he was a fruitcake. What the heck?! - were the only three words bouncing around Squall's consciousness at that point of time. That really did it. He hereby declared himself officially lost. Once Cloud got back, he was gonna get some answers out of him, even if it meant threatening him at point blank with his gunblade.

Day passed quickly, and nightfall came.

\-------------------------------

When Cloud neared the house, he was surprised to see smoke billowing out in great volumes through a large hole in the roof. His eyebrow twitched tremendously when he came to realize that it wasn't *just* a large hole in the roof. It *was* the roof - or rather, what used to be the roof. Great. Just great. What did Squall do, pulled out all the nails in the roof so he could fix the leak from the inside out? He shook his head and slowly made his way into the house.

He saw what he thought was an unusual sight.

The blond boy with a tail... what was his name... Zidane, was awake and sitting in the middle of the stairs leading to the top platform, seemingly deep in thought. Squall was kneeling down beside the large water receptacle which contained his chocobo's everyday necessities, and staring at something underneathe the stairs Zidane was sitting on. Kuja was nowhere to be seen - that was, until Cloud led his gold chocobo back to the stables.

"... you can't stay there forever, you know." Squall was saying to the darkness underneathe the staircase. A question mark popped out of Cloud's head, as he stroked his chocobo's chin and gently locked the indoor stable gates. He turned around and walked closer to Squall, wondering who he was talking to. Squall didn't seem to feel his presence, as he continued, "I mean... aren't you hungry? I'm not that much of a cook, but..."

A small noise came from the darkness Squall was talking to. Squall stayed knelt for a while longer, then sighed, threw his hands into the air and stood up. "I give up." He declared, turning to face the confused Cloud. "I've tried everything, threats, persuasions, coercion, even brute force. He still refuses to come out, or talk to me." He shook his head, walking up the stairs, ignoring Zidane, and settling down in front of the fireplace, poking it violently. More smoke billowed out into the open.

Although confused, Cloud went over to the darkness and knelt down too. He sort of knew who was there, but he still didn't understand what was going on. "Kuja?" He asked quietly, hoping for a response. What had happened in such a short time to reduce the over-confident vainpot to sitting in a dark corner of the house, wallowing in self-pity? "Kuja?" He tried again, trying to see where the silver-haired man was.

"Um..." a voice from behind him caused him to turn his head. Zidane then knelt down beside Cloud, looking at the confused mercenary, "... can I talk to him?" he asked, sounding a little embarassed.

"I don't see why not." Cloud stood up and rounded the stairs to join Squall at the fireplace as well. He stopped in mid-step, wondering if he should stay to hear out what the two of them were going to say to each other.

"Kuja?" He heard Zidane first. The boy then scratched his head in a familiar notion - Cloud recognized it as something *he* always did, and chortled a little.

\-------------------------------

"... are you angry with me?" Zidane continued, wondering why he was doing this, "... for not recognizing who you are... ?"

A short silence ensued, before a sigh came out from the darkness, followed by, "I honestly cannot be, and am not angry with you, Zidane."

"Then why're you hiding in there?" The boy frowned. "Come out and let me take a good look at you, why 'doncha?" He leaned forward a little, biting his lips, feeling nervous. "Tell me who I am, why 'doncha? I'd really love that, you know."

An even more frustrated sigh came to his ears.

"Zidane," the shadows said, "I don't know what to tell you."

Somehow, that felt sincere. Zidane stood up and folded his arms across his chest, brow creased. Waking up to a world you didn't know existed, opening your eyes to a face you never remembered... for starters, he was smart enough to conclude that he was suffering from some temporal memory disorder - in short, amnesia. Next step? Find someone within the region where he had awaken in and hope that they knew him; at least enough to help him know the who what when where why and how. And then after that? Well, beat the crap outta that guy until he spilt everything? It all seemed so easy! For an unexpected moment, Zidane was stunned by the truthful tone his 'friend' Kuja was having on him. It almost seemed as if he really didn't know what to say to him.

But Zidane would not rest. He forced himself to ignore the tone his 'friend' held. He wanted to know. He had to know! How else was he going to keep living for tomorrow? For the future?

"J... Just tell me the truth, for crying out loud!" Zidane shouted, storming over into the darkness and grabbing the entity that was inside. In a short while, he had dragged the shocked Kuja out and loomed over him ominously. "Like where I came from, who my friends were, what I was doing, and... who you are, to me!"

Kuja looked at Zidane with an unwilling glint in his eye. He then stood up and dusted himself carefully, shaking his head and frowning hard. Once that was done, he snapped his head up angrily and shouted back, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO TELL YOU!!" scaring the living daylights out of everybody in the house, "AND YOU PROBABLY WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND OR BELIEVE ME ANYWAY, SO WHY DO YOU CARE?!"

"Woah! Hold your chocobos, people!" Cloud came running down the stairs, with Squall following behind at a slower pace. "The last thing I want is a horde of monsters clamouring over the mountains because of the din we're making," he put a hand on Kuja's shoulder, then said to Zidane, "give him a break, okay? I promise we'll talk more about this, but right now, I think we all need some rest."

"..." went Zidane and Kuja. The latter then shrugged Cloud's hand off and proceeded to walk out of the door into the open, not turning back to glance at any of them in the event. Zidane curled up his hands into fists and slammed them against the hard floor. He then sat down and remained silent and unmovable. Cloud and Squall gave each other looks of uncertainty. Cloud then shook his head and went back to the fireplace area to get ready to rest. Squall wondered if Kuja would be all right out there, then shrugged and went back to the fireplace as well.

For now, what everybody needed was some time to themselves in each other's presence. There were so many things to think about.

Then after that, there would be things to talk about.

 

\-------------------------------  
tatakatta  
21/5/2001


	4. omoi dasu

Standard disclaimers apply.

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
omoi dasu

 

"All men have stars,

"but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travellers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems. For my businessman they are wealth. But all these stars are silent. You - you alone - will have the stars as no one else has them -

"... and your friends will be properly astonished to see you laughing as you look up at the sky! Then you will say to them, 'Yes, the stars always make me laugh!' And they will think you are crazy.

"It will be as if, in place of the stars, I had given you a great number of little bells that knew how to laugh..."

\-------------------------------

Kuja twirled his finger in a circular movement, then shot a lighting spell into the night, watching as the sparkles trailed themselves, one after another, into the starry sky. He then put his hand to his chin and smiled slightly at the stars, wondering whether Gaia and Terra were both part of the skyline.

As far as he had known it, 'The Little Prince' was originally an ancient novel, well loved and cherished by people of all ages who understood it's essence. About 500 years ago from his time, a man called Ipsen, from Gaia; the same man who had written 'I Want to be Your Canary', had adapted it into a play, and from then on, the story of the little prince lived from generation to generation.

Ipsen was well known as a great dramatist; one who wrote plays with such vibrance that actors clamoured to star in a show which he had scripted. Yet, in truth Ipsen was a traveller and an adventurer by nature. His bibliography included not just that of dramatic tragedies, but colourful records of his travels to the ends of the world and back. Few knew, and even fewer bothered to care. But Kuja did. Having been a lover of drama since creation, he had sought to find Ipsen's every script, reading every single one indiscriminately.

He felt like... he knew Ipsen.

Just like he felt like he'd somehow knew Cloud and Squall.

Shuffling noises beside him told of another presence. He watched impassively as Zidane sat down like a lead, not even flinching when he turned around and flashed the goofiest grin he'd ever seen the monkey do. When Zidane turned to look at the stars, he slowly did that as well.

"Was I..." Zidane silently prodded, "... very bad? So bad that you wouldn't even tell me who I was?"

Knowing where this would very well lead to, the ex-villian still didn't feel like resisting the question. He said, "No, Zidane. You were the sweetest Genome in the entire universe."

He immediately shut up after that, not exactly in the mood to start explaining what a Genome was. But fortunately for him, the monkey boy decided to let it go. He simply tossed his head back and laughed.

"I've been thinking about it," he said, putting his hands behind his head, leaning backwards and closing his eyes, "actually, I kindda get what you mean when you said you didn't know what to tell me...

"I mean, it really wouldn't be fair to let you tell me about my life. Heh, it *IS* my life, after all. Hearing it from someone else'll just ruin it all."

Kuja smiled faintly, glad that he didn't have to continue being interrogated. Sitting out in the cold without protection could really do wonders to a person's sanity and integrity. From the corner of his eye, he could see Zidane shuffle his hair (is there such a phrase?!) gently.

"When I woke up," Zidane said, "my head hurt alot. Everything was just like, woah, a big patch of bright light bordering on my consciousness. I wasn't even sure if I was alive. After a while, though, everything sorta settled back and I could think again." He narrowed his eyes, recalling the experience. "But it didn't help me one bit." He shook his head sadly. "I couldn't remember who I was. I didn't know where I was. I didn't know what had happened..."

"So when you saw me," Kuja quietly asked, "you thought I could help you? Fill in the blanks in your memories?"

Zidane laughed. "Maybe." His answer baffled his companion. "I knew you knew me. I thought... I just wanted to know what's wrong with me." He sighed, putting his hand near his heart. "Because... ever since I woke up, bits and pieces of memories started escaping me, when I almost caught on to one or two. It... kindda got onto my nerves after a while... There's something I remember pretty clearly, though... almost like it's imprinted into my head...

"... there's someone... someone reaching out for me, in those memories I don't quite remember..."

Kuja continued looking at his friend. Friend? Maybe they were friends. That's why they have proverbs like 'with friends like these, who needs enemies', right? But Kuja himself didn't know. In light of everything that had already happened to the two of them, he *was* beginning to see Zidane as a trustworthy companion. When he found out he was still alive, for a long time, he had thought of just going off to die again. What stopped him was the fact that he knew someone cared. Someone cared enough to come back to look for him against all odds...

But was that someone here with him at all?

From the corner of his eye, he could see their host walking towards them, flinging each of them a nice, warm and fluffy cotten bedsheet. He then settled down beside them and looked into the sky as well.

"I looted it from the Bone Village." He casually remarked. "When I went there this morning, there wasn't a single soul around. Oh well, but I left enough money on the table to fund them for an entire year, so I guess it can't be that bad." He laughed, to nobody in particular.

They all stared quietly at the stars.

"Those stars feel like little hands, reaching out to me." Zidane suddenly quipped. "I wonder what I should do?" He laughed, slapping his hands against his thighs.

"Is there something you're looking for?" Cloud asked, the genre of his question puzzling both Zidane and Kuja alike. "Maybe if you just reach out, you'll find it, right where it always has been, by your side..."

"Hmmmmmmm..." Zidane looked at Cloud thoughtfully, then turned his head back to the skies. "I didn't know you were a fan of Ipsen..."

"Ipsen?" Cloud wondered aloud despite himself.

"Yeah, Ipsen." Zidane grinned and replied. "You know, I-PSE-N!!" He made a face and pronounced the word as carefully as he could, like he was perhaps talking to a school of kindergarten children just learning how to pronounce.

Cloud continued staring at him like he had a fish in his ear. Kuja, however, was a little stunned over something. He tapped Zidane lightly on his shoulders. "Zidane?" He requested attention, which was given him. "You remember who Ipsen was?"

Zidane gave him a 'huh?' look. He slowly nodded and said, "Yeah, Baku would never take the deal unless it was an Ipsen's play. One of his weird idiosyncrasies, but hey, Ipsen's a pretty cool guy, so the guys never..." he stopped suddenly, as if finally realizing what he was talking about, "... the guys... the guys never..."

A sharp pain shot through every cell in his brain. "Ow!" He whimpered, caressing his head and hoping for comfort. Before Kuja could administer a cure spell to help with the pain, the young thief started quaking violently. "Dammit!" He finally said, bringing his fist into contact with the earth for not the first time that day. "Why can't I remember?!"

"You remembered Baku and Tantalus." Kuja offered, hoping that would rekindle something within him. "I'd say that's pretty much a feat in it's own right already."

"Baku? Tantalus??" Zidane whipped around to stare at Kuja, silently demanding answers. Another sharp pain flashed through his tired mind, forcing him back to staring at the stars in the open field. Before he could kick and thrash any longer, a quiet, peaceful aura took over his form and sent him into sweet slumber. Kuja found himself facing Cloud and his sleep materia orb when Zidane collapsed, sound asleep.

"Yeah, go ahead, make some more noise, throw a party, tell all the monsters we're ready to be eaten." Cloud rolled his eyes, stuffing the orb back into hammerspace. "Don't worry, he'll be awake by morning." He reassured the silver-haired man. "You'd better get some rest too, 'therwise you'll all be too weak to walk when the time comes. All this nonsense about Ipsens and Bakus and Tantaluses..." He mumbled incoherently.

"What about you?" Kuja obediently laid down and pulled the sheets over him. He did badly need some rest, especially after that Holy spell that morning. "Staying up to keep night watch?" He joked, then yawned.

"You must be kidding," Cloud laughed, "that's Squall's job, not mine."

Too tired to argue about the meaning of the sentence he'd just heard, Kuja closed his eyes and allowed the weird warmness in the wind to carry him into slumberland.

Which left Cloud to watch the sky alone, winking at the stars who winked back occasionally.

He stood up slowly, dusting the soil off his pants.

"How long are you gonna keep standing there?" He asked good-naturedly, eyes still on the sky.

After a short silence, Squall appeared in the doorway of the house, with his trademarked bored expression on his face. Breathing out, he put a hand on the framewood and turned to look at the sky as well. Who was to blame him for being bored, confused, and unable to express himself? Heck, even the author doesn't know what's going on anymore! But that will not stop this novel from continuing. On the contrary, the author is more determined than ever to finish off what had been started. Anyway, I digress. At this point of time, Squall also slid silently onto the grass with his share of the bedsheet and rested along the rest of the motley crew. Cloud sniggered.

"You must be in a very bad mood." He gave Squall a light pat on the back. Squall turned to look at him with his bad mood face.

"Actually, I'm not in a very bad mood." He told Cloud, then added, "Believe it or not."

"Then what's with the sour face?" Cloud turned his lower lip up. He proceeded to imitate Squall's mindless expression. "See? You could poke a needle through my face right now and my head'll probably burst. You gotta stop looking so full of yourself, or of anything else, if you wanna be able to make some friends."

He laughed.

"I mean, I know you already *have* friends, but oh well. Being sociable helps in things besides making friends."

Squall turned away, still with that sour look on his face. "I was born with this face. I'm sorry you're so bothered about it."

Unable to determine whether or not that was a joke, Cloud kept his peace.

"May I ask you something which may seem totally irrelevant and entirely ridiculous?" Squall suddenly pipped.

"Sure," Cloud nodded, having seen all the freaks in the world, including Kuja, "but let me guess your question. Somewhere along the lines of, 'where in the world am I'?"

"................" went Squall, "... close, but actually, I wanted to ask you, where did you find me?"

"Huh?" Cloud wasn't sure if he heard that right.

"You heard me. Where did you find me?"

Cloud eyed the boy for a while, thinking about something. Then he said, "Can I counter-ask you something before I answer that?"

"... Yeah."

"Where were you?"

Although unsure if he had interpreted the question correctly, Squall answered, "I was trapped in time compression."

He saw Cloud looking blankly at him.

"Ugh, yeah, right," Cloud finally managed to sputter, "time compression. Cool. Whatever it was." He frowned. "Can you give some sort of a physical description of it instead?"

"Oh." Squall said, in a small voice. "I can't really remember. I think it was a floating piece of dried land. About the size of this house," he jerked a thumb towards the house they were leaning on, "I think."

"A floating piece of dry land?!" Cloud raised his voice a little, beside himself with exasperation. "As much as I want to believe that, Squall... what in the world are you talking about??"

"........" Squall rolled his eyes and shrugged. He was asked a question, he gave the answer. Trust him to be shouted at nevertheless. Oh well. "... I don't know. I already told you, I was trapped in time compression. I probably didn't manage to get out or something. Maybe I got thrown so far back in time, the people here don't really know about some of the stuff we do in my time."

This set Cloud to thinking. Time compression? That was a weird theory. But Kuja *had* mentioned names of places he didn't recognize, and was sure as anything didn't exist on the Planet. He'd never seen anybody with a tail either, come to think about it. And he was sure if he asked, Squall wouldn't know anything about materia, just like how Kuja had failed to appreciate the importance of those orbs. Now if they *truly* were from the future...

"Well..." Cloud began, "... okay. Time compression. Yeah," he nodded his head, sparing no efforts to put on a convincing enough expression to hoodwink the boy. "As for your previous question, I found you in the Sleeping Forest; if that helps any."

"... Sleeping Forest..." Squall said the words with doubt in his voice. He obviously had never heard of the place before. Maybe it was somewhere in an island so far away from mainland that only a selected group of people knew about it? He didn't know. He desperately wanted to know. There was someone waiting for him to go back. From the back of his mind, the name 'Rinoa' popped in. Once that came, the colour of sky-blue automatically followed...

"Hey Squall," Cloud called out to the boy, jerking him back into reality from where he had put his head in the clouds, "tell us more about this time compression thing when we all wake up tomorrow, 'kay? I got a feeling we're onto something here. But for now, let's just turn in for the night."

Squall looked at Cloud for a while, making Cloud wonder just what in the world these guys loved to think about so much. Finally, Squall nodded, and turned the other way to rest on his side.

"Okay."

Was the last word he said, before closing his eyes and allowing sleep to take over.

 

\-------------------------------  
omoi dashita  
23/5/2001

Other disclaimers:  
'The Little Prince', by Antione De Saint-Exupery. Quoted for impact, respected for beauty. No profit is being or should be made out of it's little appearance in the above text.

By the way:  
'I want to be your Canary' was written by Lord Avon, not Ipsen. As for why the change in this fic, well... you'll see why when we go further down the plot.


	5. shuppatsu suru

Standard disclaimers apply.

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
shuppatsu suru

 

They stood in a row, in varied positions and poses - some with hands akimbo, others with hands folded, and even those with hands all over their hair. Although they were, in retrospect, doing different things, they were really, in actual fact, staring at the same thing.

The unidentifiable object loomed before them.

"Can someone," Cloud began, "just... gimme a rough estimate of how long we've been asleep or something?"

"..........................." went Squall, articulate as usual, "... ten days, maybe?"

Zidane was a little more helpful, but not by very much, saying, "I'd say somewhere near... ten years?"

"Actually," Kuja looked at his little pocket watch and shook his head, "it's only been less than ten hours."

"........................................................." went all four.

"All right, all right," Cloud put his hands up and turned to face his three companions, "time aside and everything... does anybody wanna give me a LOGICAL explanation of what the heck happened to the poor house overnight? No complicated mathematical formulas or laws of enthropies, for goodness sake; I'm not exactly a rocket scientist. Just something simple and logical. Any takers?"

The first thing everybody did next was to turn and re-examine the house. As they did that, the hinge of the door to the house squeaked and broke, sending the large, termite-infested door to the ground with a splendid crash. Everybody winced. Good thing for them, that was the only big incident to occur for a while. Cloud tapped his foot impatiently, raising an eyebrow every now and then.

To say the house was in a state of disorderliness... would be an understatement, in itself. Just the night before, the house had been a simple, but beautiful accomodation for four strangers who had somehow found themselves bunking in with each other. Although it wasn't exactly luxurious or anything, at least it was clean and comfortable. Now, however, was a different story from just less than 10 hours ago; according to Kuja. Bricks had fallen out of it's place from the house's walls and cobwebs decorated every corner there was. The indoor chocobo stable was... in a poorly maintained condition. Cloud's gold chocobo was nowhere to be seen. The wooden staircase groaned uncomfortably to each's weight as they all went up to check out the top floor. Most of the books in the shelves had biodegraded beyond recognition, those which hadn't being covered with possibly a ton of dust and whatnots... and the fireplace was officially a breeding ground for the weirdest insects any of them had ever seen. Kuja was visibly disgusted at the mess, being a prim and proper person by nature and everything. Everybody else did pretty well to hide what they thought of the condition of the house, though.

"Well?" Cloud pressed on. "What do you think?"

"I don't know." Zidane replied. "This looks like a house nobody's stayed in for years, even though I'm pretty darn sure it looked just fine last night."

"Couldn't have been a monster attack, either..." Squall stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm..."

"Well, it appears that the house had just aged into a fine pile of dust, overnight." Kuja wrinkled his nose and dusted some of the books on the chair and table. "Look, here was the book I was reading last night. It's still on the same page I stopped, too." He peered weirdly at the book, trying to see beyond the thick dust. "That's a really old map of Gaia." He remarked to nobody in particular. Cloud noticed, however, but noted that down in his mind for later discussion, being more concerned about what was happening at the moment. He took the book, dusted it and threw it into his volumeless inventory for later perusal.

"So, what're we gonna do now?" Zidane threw the million dollar question to everybody on the floor.

"What else?" Cloud said, raising an eyebrow. "Clean the mess up, I suppose."

".........." went the three others. A bird cooed overhead.

"Um..." Squall was uncharacteristically nervous, "... didn't you say we were going to go to Midgar... ?"

"Y-Yeah!" Kuja agreed wholeheartedly. Suddenly, Midgar became the most attractive place in the planet, nevermind he didn't know where it was. "I'm kindda looking forward to going there, you know. It sounds like a really cool place."

Zidane burst out laughing, and Cloud simply smiled ominously. Talk about being subtle as a ton of bricks.

"You sure you guys wanna go Midgar?" Cloud raised an eyebrow deliberately and asked. He received nods all round, except for the laughing Zidane. "Even without the gold chocobo?" He pressed on, the tone in his voice spelling out fake concern. Again, everybody nodded. "I mean, Midgar is all over the other side of the ocean and everything... just checking if you guys were sure." He grinned, almost wickedly. Seeing that there were no grunts of disapproval, Cloud continued, "All right. That settles it. We'll leave the house as it is and travel to Midgar on the double. Glad you guys are all being so cooperative." He punched Zidane's shoulder in a friendly manner to get him to stop laughing and start listening. He then beckoned for the other two to a flat and grassy area nearby.

After unfolding the world map onto the grass and garnering three mystified expressions on his new-found friends, he explained, pointing his finger, "This is... a map of the world we going to travel on now." He then looked up, anticipating queries. Silence was the credit given to his having chosen his words carefully, and he was given space to continue.

"We're now at this continent up here; the Northern Continent." He moved the finger downwards. "This is our destination - Midgar. We usually wouldn't be able to make it there by foot, so I'm gonna need every ounce of your help and cooperation." He then circled the oceanic area between the Northern Continent and the Eastern Continent. "There are quite a number of jutting rocks and small islands in this area, all in quite close proximity. It should be close enough to leap and not drown during low tide, though it also means that monster encounters would be rather frequent. But if we work closely together, there's a high chance we'd all get to Midgar unscathe, dry and happy. What do you guys say? Are we up to nothing less than the perfect teamwork when it comes down to the nitty gritty?"

He swept his gaze around and thought there was a weird look of slight admiration and respect on Squall's face. Maybe Squall envied the fact that he could talk more than Squall ever would, though it was most probably something else. Zidane was tilting his head from side to side, obviously still attempting to absorb all of that information. His good friend Kuja was staring at the map like it was some oddity from outer space.

The first to speak was Squall. "It sounds like a workable plan. Who's going to lead the attack?" He proceeded to ask.

"We're not going to war, for goodness sake." Cloud gave Squall the evil eye. "The monsters around here don't usually attack unless they're provoked. As long as we stay out of their food, water and nests, I'm pretty sure they won't so much as bother to turn a head at us."

Squall and Kuja exchanged knowing looks. Even Zidane didn't look nearly half as convinced. He was about to say something when Kuja intervened, instead asking, "But still, we're going to need a formation. I wouldn't count accidentally angering some monsters out of this trip, personally. What do you say?" He asked generically.

"What formation?" Zidane immediately replied. "I say we just beat 'em when we see 'em! They won't even know what happened!" He grinned optimistically, clanging the Orihalcon thief daggers - which he had drawn out from nowhere, against each other.

"... I don't know what you guys are good at, or weak at, for that matter." Cloud gently countered. "So why not do this - today, we hold back. We play defensive and concentrate on just getting to the other continent instead of pummeling monsters into submission." He glanced briefly at Zidane. "Once we get to Midgar, I promise, we'll have to do a lot more than just keeping on our toes and defending ourselves from the occasional riled up monster..."

Nods slowly went round. Cloud gave a sigh of relief inwardly.

This meant he would finally be able to observe his unlikely comrades in all of their battling glory. Once he could ascertain their skill level, things might probably fall in place easier. Suddenly, he remembered something. He quickly threw his right hand into the air and excitedly exclaimed, "Item check, item check!" surprising everybody. He grinned. "We're going on a journey, right? Sometimes, a nice item'll be able to offset a terrible wound that a cure spell wouldn't be able to handle, so let's just have a brief item check. It'd be good to sort them out now, too."

He then reached into his volumeless inventory and started counting silently. While he did, everybody else also did the same. Soon, numbers were being ranted off and items were being surrendered and gathered. It was a hilarious sight watching the four of them bantering out with each other what should and should not be kept. Cloud, being the more outspoken one of the lot with all his know-how expertise naturally took the lead in eliminating what was unnecessary. Finally, after a valiant battle of words between all four, they were ready to go.

"And Squall," Cloud was saying, "remember to tell us about time compression once we reach Midgar."

Both Zidane and Kuja were puzzled, but decided against saying anything about that. Squall merely gave a curt nod and summoned his weapon from hammerspace.

"Let's go," he said, slowly but steadily walking towards the small tunnel at the bottom of the mountains which led to the outside.

Zidane sighed and shook his head. "Why do I get a bad feeling about this?" He then quietly followed the rest, who were trekking alongside Squall. Hanging around too much with depressed people wasn't doing Zidane any good at all. This he fully agreed with. But what could he do but follow now? He sighed again, shrugging carelessly.

\-------------------------------

The trip was mostly uneventful. At low tide, the seabed was practically a beach. Even Cloud didn't hide his surprise at how much the water had receded, and merely trudged along quietly, keeping his senses for the expected monster or two. They met with a few bugs, flies and insects along the way, but otherwise, the absurd lack of king-sized behemoths and dragons were beginning to bother even Zidane; who had hoped for not a single enemy encounter to begin with.

Perhaps it was just a misled gut feeling. But hadn't anybody ever heard of the phrase 'the calm before the storm'?

"Yo guys!" The monkey called out from where he was, the rear of the motley little crew. "Can we stop for a while? I'm bushed!"

"We're almost there, you know." Cloud said.

"You've been saying that since half an hour ago!" Zidane complained, hopping from rock to rock until he finally reached the small island the rest of them were. "Can't we just sit down for a while? It's not like the high tide is gonna come engulf us in another hour or so, right? Come on! My legs are starting to give way already!" He moaned, and sat down on the grass massaging his leg muscles slowly. He was joined quickly by Kuja, who looked slightly grateful as he closed his eyes to enjoy the soft breeze. Squall merely turned to look at Cloud, who looked back and shrugged, before sitting down too.

In a short while, all four were sitting in various positions on the green grass, gazing beyond what was visible into a time and place only they had access to from their minds.

As the day progressed, Squall startled everybody by igniting a conversation.

"I don't suppose," he had suddenly said, literally making everybody jump, "anybody knows where Balamb Garden is?"

Everybody stared at him.

"I guessed as much." He went back to drawing circles on the ground, the rain cloud above his head slowly developing into a thunderstorm cloud. As Zidane and Kuja turned to look at one another, Cloud threw his head back and laughed loudly into the skies, earning him even weirder stares from the ones that had been given Squall.

"What's up with spike now?" Zidane mused, none too apathetically. Kuja shrugged, making twirling motions around his temple with his right index finger. To this, Zidane sniggered and slapped a hand against his thigh. Nobody noticed Squall's overhead cloud becoming a hailstorm.

"Hahahaha..." Cloud eventually stopped laughing so loudly and got his mood into check. The first thing he did was to swat Squall's dangerous looking blizzard cloud away, saying, "Hey, lighten up already, Mr. Angsty. You're gonna scare away all the monsters within 10 miles with that expression on your face."

"Not that it's not a good thing." Zidane immediately quipped, striking a pose with the Orihalcon, tail waving around ferociously. Cloud laughed a bit more.

"True, true... you know, guys? I never really got to ask you more about yourselves." The spikey headed mercenary tilted his head and smiled. "This may seem a little out of nowhere and totally off the course, if you may, but really, I'd like to hear from you guys. What do you do? Where are you from?"

"I don't know!" The monkey boy quickly put his hand into the air and grinned like a cheshire cat. "Honest! I swear I don't know!" He quickly said when he spotted all three of them give him the evil eye. Kuja sighed.

"Zidane over here," he said, "is an actor."

There was a little pause as the blond boy put his hand down and stared at Kuja with a gaping mouth. He hadn't expected to hear Kuja say anything about who he was to begin with. But hey, he wasn't complaining. He quietly listened as the silver-haired man continued with the small introduction.

"We both come from a planet called Te... um... Gaia." He flushed at the mistake and hoped nobody had noticed. "And, judging by the blank looks on all of your faces, including Zidane's," he raised an eyebrow and turned in Zidane's general direction, "I should be right in assuming nobody knows what the heck Gaia is."

"Um... okay." Cloud nodded, waving a hand to signify he was letting the matter pass for now. "Gaia, right. It sounds like a nice place, though I've never heard of it before... so... what do you do for a living, Kuja?"

*Destroy planets, start wars, build weapons, and things like that.* Kuja rolled his eyes and thought. Outwardly, he said, "Me? I'm your standard unemployed freak on the streets. I go around looking for monkeys to bully."

By the time he noticed Zidane, they were already engaged in a mini scruffle. Four blue lines slid down Cloud's left eye. He turned to the only other sane person on the island.

"................." went the moody Squall. "I'm a SeeD from Balamb Garden." He raised a hand, made a gesture, then went back to brooding, ignoring all the question marks growing out of Cloud's head.

"What do you mean, you're a seed from Balamb garden?" Cloud asked. "What do you do there? Plant seeds?"

"No," Squall quickly corrected, "I study there. The Garden is a school which trains SeeDs to defeat the sorceress. Otherwise, I guess you could call me a contracted mercenary."

"Ah." Was all Cloud could say. "Remind me to ask you about the sorceress at another time in the future." He managed to smile uncomfortably, but cheered up almost immediately. "Actually... I'm a mercenary too, you know." He punched Squall on the shoulder. "But unlike you, I'm freelance. Can't get tied up too much, otherwise I'll just become another salary-man in the crates they come in." He put a hand to his chin and thought for a while.

"Now may not be a good time, but it's really been bothering me for a while now," the tone of Cloud's voice changed for the serious, "we don't need to be Solomons to figure this out by now... I'm sure we've all noticed that... we're not exactly from the same planet... whatever that meant." He threw his hands into the air.

"The places are different." Squall agreed. "And the geography... I've travelled almost everywhere in the world, but I can't match a single location to any of the places I've walked past during this period..."

"Neither can I." Kuja nodded, then shifted his attention to what was bothering him the most. "And this time, it's not just me, but you guys have all noticed, right? We all cast magic, almost the same horde; but... through different methods."

"Which is funny, coz the spells do the same thing, they just look and are cast differently." Zidane commented, being an outsider to the realm of magic in general.

"What Zidane just said is something I can't figure out, and it's bothering me a lot." Kuja took it from where his friend left off. "In Gaia, there was another planet somewhere nearby, called Terra.

"There, although existing as two different planets, Gaia and Terra's magic casters used the same methods and held the same spells." He put a hand to his forehead in a mock position of thought. "Even if we truly are from different planets, why are the spells cast so differently? I can cast spells without a catalyst, it's an ability that's imbued in me. Cloud has to equip materia, draw on their power, so to speak. As for Squall..."

"... I draw spells from the people I fight, store them in my arsenal and use them at a later date, as and when." He explained. "... but... I've been thinking... what if we're not *exactly* from different planets? What if there's another plausible explanation for us being throw together like this?"

"Like time compression?" Cloud jokingly brought up the subject he had been discussing with Squall the previous night. Squall threw him a solemn look and nodded.

"Kuja said that even people from two different planets cast spells the same way," he pointed out, "although it could be because they were sibling planets. But how possible is that now? However, if we should look at it from the other angle discussed just now, then there's a second, more believable explanation for all this."

He closed his eyes, looking serene for a moment.

"Time compressed. We no longer live in the era we were born in."

There was a short silence.

"I'm no expert in the studies of magic and spells," Kuja spoke afterwards, in a small voice, "but I can testify to the fact that the art of casting spells does indeed go through a few refinements in the passage of time, even though the old methods STILL work along with the new..." He shook his head. "The books I've read never provided enough details. But I know... I THINK, that people a long time ago from my time cast spells entirely differently..."

Zidane's eyes were decidedly round. "I have no idea what you guys are yakking about," was all he had to say.

A faint rustling sound distracted the thinking crew for a while, as all eyes turned to Cloud. The blond was searching around the volumeless inventory for something. Finally, a look of delight flashed across his face and a dusty book was fished out from hammerspace. He thunked it onto the grass unceremoniously.

While Squall watched on passively and Kuja slithered away in disgust at the floating dust particles, Cloud began flipping the pages of the book like a possessed librarian looking for torn pages. Zidane remained where he was with a dreamy expression on his face, almost as if he was thinking of something else. Finally, Cloud seemed to have found the page he wanted to see. He looked up excitedly.

"Check this out, guys!" He beckoned for all to come closer. When he was sure they all had a decent view of the yellowed pages of the dusty book, he began the symposium.

"This was actually one of the books I got from Cosmo Canyon, just a few days before I found you guys." He paused. "I got it because there was an interesting variety of topics being covered. I noted geography, literature, science, language... and all that schmuck. What we're interested now, is probably going to be this," he put a finger on a faded picture of a short little person with his entire face covered by a large, pointy hat.

"This section is about 'History'."

Squall squinted and pointed a gloved finger at the page, saying, "The text is too faded to really be read, Cloud."

"No it's not!" Cloud made a face. He lightly brushed across the surface of the paper and took away a thick film of dust, rendering the page readable again. "See? It documents how people before MY time used magic. Some kind of a... job class system." He said, pronouncing the words as carefully as he could.

Kuja leaned over a little more to have a better look at the page.

He gasped at what he saw.

This promptly got everybody's attention, including Zidane's, as they wondered what had caused the sudden reaction. Their questioning glances only caused the petrified Kuja to take a few more steps back, until one more would have plunged him into the watery deeps of the oceans beyond. During this time, Zidane managed to steal a quick glance at the book.

And he, too, gasped.

"Vi... Vivi!"

Before either Cloud or Squall had the chance to convert the question marks above their heads into actual questions, a low rumbling shook the island from below them. Scrambling to their feet, doing some last minute packing up, everybody looked up just in time to see a towering reptile at least 10 storeys high rising to full height from the waters behind Kuja. The sorcerer turned around, snapping to attention immediately and nimbly retreating to join his advancing comrades.

"... did someone complain of boredom or something?" Zidane kept his playful attitude despite his unexpected outburst earlier. "I swear, the big ones only come when they think you need the entertainment."

"If they charge me, I'm going to complain," Kuja snorted, "about the quality."

A few dozen more baby versions of the same snake-like creature leapt from the waters onto land, hissing away.

"And the quantity." Kuja quickly added.

"I think it really depends on what kind of entertainment we're asking for." Squall laughed and drew Lion Heart.

And Cloud looked at the three of them exasperately, saying, "Then I sure hope you guys are properly equipped against fire elemental attacks... because although this guy feels a little different...

"... I don't think there's any doubt about it. We're talking about the legendary Midgar Zolom from my times."

 

\-------------------------------  
shuppatsu shita  
31/5/2001


	6. wakatteru

Standard disclaimers apply.

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
wakatteru

 

Cloud immediately cast Big Guard and Squall started chanting. Zidane began his fancy footwork (the author affirms that no Juventus puns were intended) with Kuja clearing the path with a constant stream of meteorites. When the Orihalcon first touched Midgar Zolom snake scale, Squall cleared away all vestiges of the baby snakes which weren't already toasted by Meteo with a Shiva summoning. With Cloud, they then joined the frontline actions just as Zidane got thrown back violently, landing unceremoniously on the conveniently-passing-by Kuja. Cloud tried not to laugh. Squall merely stood in a defensive pose against the Zolom.

"That guy..." Zidane was trying to get up, and in the event pushing Kuja deeper into the ground than he already was from the impact just now, "has the toughest skin I've ever slashed before!"

As if in reply, the Midgar Zolom breathed a stream of Beta against the heros. Big Guard took most of it off, but a couple of them still suffered minor burns. Squall dashed at the reptile immediately after that, as if trying to confirm what Zidane had mentioned. Cloud strapped the Ultima Weapon to his back quickly, deciding to switch to other means for the moment. He heard Squall's gunblade touch skin - or more specifically, it sounded like it touched Ruby WEAPON armour. When Squall leapt back to the little group they exchanged looks with each other. This was going to take long.

"Cloud," Kuja suddenly popped out from nowhere, having managed to boot Zidane off, "what's this thing's weakness?" he asked, powering up a spell in his right hand.

The blond mercenary turned around with a 'Ican'tbelieveyou'reaskingmethis' look and said, "Isn't it obvious? Ice attacks, of course."

"Right. Just making sure, you know." He smiled sinisterly, pointing evilly at the snake. "Blizzaga!"

The huge iceberg trapped the Zolom within it until it was obvious it couldn't stand it anymore, trashing around desperately to break out of the frozen chamber. It succeeded only because the strong ice spell eventually wore off, but somehow, the attack seemed to have made the snake angrier than it already was. It swung it's gigantic tail around, and although missing all of them, did manage to give them quite a nice scare. Kuja was about to go in for the kill when Cloud held a hand out.

"This might seem rather unjustifiable at the moment, but do you think you could help out in the back row for now?" Cloud gave him a silly grin. "Let the rest of us worry about getting the thing down on it's knees."

The ex-villian sulked and folded his arms across his chest. Cloud was absolutely right when he said it wasn't justiable. After all, red mages had always been more offensive-based. Still, he decided to let it go, until the heat of the battle cooled over. He obediently retreated to the back row and prepared a Curaga.

"Squall, summon Shiva again!" Cloud immediately took charge of the battle. Squall nodded and began chanting. "Zidane, attack once Shiva ices that freak!" He continued. Zidane gave a funny wink and held an 'okay' sign with his free hand. He, too, took the preparative position.

"And what will you be doing?" Kuja mused aloud, semi-interested, semi-bothered. Cloud had a distant look in his eye.

"I don't know if this is gonna work." He said, eyes still looking faraway.

"I'm going to summon Shiva too."

"?!?!" went both Squall and Kuja. Zidane turned his head, but was decidedly uninterested in what they were talking about. Squall looked at Cloud like he was the most ridiculous thing in the whole universe, but couldn't stop in the middle of a chant and so continued until the Guardian Force was ready. Cloud then gave him a nod to signify the go ahead. Although confused, Squall let the creature out of the depths of his body, where he had junctioned it. At the very same time, he saw a red orb in Cloud's Ultima Weapon glow as if in usage.

Then the Shivas came.

They both appeared, one descending from the skies and another ascending from the grounds. However, instead of immediately lifting that finger to summon the strongest blizzard upon the opponent, they suddenly dispersed into tiny, white sparkles, then slowly circled around one another. After a while, and a blinding flash of light, Shiva appeared again, looking normal, feeling normal.

Oh, but when she began to attack.

Kuja dared say he had never seen a blizzard so strong before. The ice flakes, big and sharp, acted like they had a will of their own, circling around the monster and trapping it in the valley of the canyon they were building. The snake howled and demanded to be let out by a series of bangs against the icy walls. The summoned creature was not about to let go so easily, of course. With a sweep of her icy hand she brought the worst blizzards from all four corners of the world and made them intercept one another exactly where the Midgar Zolom stood.

The destruction was imminent. Ice shards flew around the area.

By the time Shiva spun and returned to where she had always been hiding, what was left of the Midgar Zolom was simply a pitiful creature writhing about on the grasses of the island. Cloud looked at Squall. Squall looked at Cloud. They pointed at one another, but didn't know what to say. Zidane got out of his battle pose, deciding that he wasn't needed to attack anymore, now that Shiva had done everything, and simply walked towards where snake was, bending on one knee to examine it. Kuja was following closely behind.

"What a sight!" Zidane whistled, poking the scaley creature with a gloved finger. The snake writhed a little more, then stopped moving. He turned around to see Kuja looking at the monster with a thoughtful expression. Before he could ask, the silver-haired man waved for him to step aside.

"Don't mind me," he said, kneeling down and holding a hand over the creature. White mist began to rise from the collapsed body of the Zolom, from a very small wisp to a very large volume. Until finally, the body of the Zolom was no longer there. What was left was felt more than seen. Strong black magic appeared to have been the concentration of what the Zolom was. Zidane blinked at the disappearance of what had been an almost lethal enemy. When he looked at Kuja for answers, the latter had already fallen on his backside and was wide-eyed with what appeared to have been a shocking revelation.

"Zidane! Kuja!" Cloud called out from afar, sprinting alongside Squall towards their comrades. When they arrived, Cloud looked at where the Zolom used to be and shook his head in confusion. "Where's the Zolom?"

The tail-boy merely shook his head, shrugging in genuine ignorance. "I don't know. It was there just now, but Kuja did something to it... and it poof! disappeared into a puff of smoke."

"?" went Cloud, as he noticed Kuja standing up, dusting himself. "Kuja? Anything to add?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." The ex-villian nodded slightly, with his eyes closed.

"The tide is coming in."

"?" went all the other three, before they finally noticed that the island they were standing on was already ankle-deep with water. Squall gacked, Cloud began to run, and Kuja followed suit. The only person seemingly not doing anything about it was Zidane, as he stood where he was, gazing at the peaceful waves that were slowly rising in height.

"Zidane?" Kuja stopped and turned back, concerned.

"Gaia..." said Zidane, with a strange look in his eye, "... used to be covered with water..."

He looked up from the waters, straight into Kuja's eyes, boring through his body even.

"Garland..." Zidane mouthed the name of their creator, shocking the tail out of Kuja. "... Memoria..."

Deciding that he had heard enough, Kuja picked a protesting Zidane up, threw him over his shoulders and jump-levitated around the islands that were still visible to mainland, where Cloud and Squall were waiting.

\-------------------------------

"... and the next time you wanna try some backwards prophetic reading, WARN ME!" Kuja was heard shouting over the fire. Squall expertly ignored all of it, having trained all his life to shut people out as and when needed, but Cloud was having a particularly hard time trying to drink his tea peacefully while listening to Kuja lecture Zidane at the same time. Even Zidane wasn't as bothered as he was. Maybe the way Kuja was pacing was just making him motion-sick.

"Hey, cool it, brother!" Zidane grinned, putting a hand to the back of his head. "You do know that I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, don't you?"

The silver-haired man stopped, turned to face Zidane, opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't get his voice to work. After a while, he stopped pacing and simply plonked down on the log Zidane was sitting on, letting out a long and hard sigh. Squall opened his eyes and tuned in, knowing something significant was probably going to happen soon. He picked up a cup, filled it with tea and passed it to Kuja.

"......................." went the sullen teenager, after Kuja had taken the cup. His eyes danced around the people sitting in front of the fire they had started for the night. At first, he had objected against setting up tent in the middle of a large, flat piece of grassland. So large and flat, Midgar's silouette was already visible on the far east. But Cloud had insisted, the same way he was so insistent on coming to Midgar in the first place. It was almost as if he was trying to delay their arrival. Although that wouldn't make any sense at all, considering how eager he had been to coming anyway... he really didn't know. Trying to figure things out always gave him a headache. His glance finally rested on Cloud. From since a few minutes ago he had expected Cloud to start talking about something, but it had been quite long and the spikey-headed mercenary showed no signs of being conversational. Squall brooded about it for a little more longer, then said, "Cloud?"

"... yeah?" Cloud looked up from observing the coals of the fire. Good, at least he was still attentive.

"Aren't you going to talk or ask questions or anything?" The teenager inquired. His reply was in the form of a blank look on Cloud's face.

"Ugh..." he finally managed to say, "let me off for a while, okay? I'm feeling a little motion sick." He blinked a couple of times, head in a swirl, face in a blur. "You can start asking the questions you wanted to ask, Squall." He managed a little smile, then retreated back into the dark recesses of his mind.

Squall raised an eyebrow at the notion, wondering if he should indeed bring up the topics of his concern. Noticing that Zidane and Kuja were looking at him expectantly, he cleared his throat.

"... I just... wanted to know what happened to the snake." He asked rather bluntly. From the corner of his eye he saw Zidane shrug and shake his head. Kuja, however, was behaving a little more in-the-know. The ex-villian brought his cup to his lips, pretending there wasn't a need to answer.

"Come on, Kuja, you have to at least answer me." Squall frowned, and tried his own little smile. Might as well be friendly while they still needed each other. "Or I'll be forced to tell you I spiked that drink of yours." He put a hand to his mouth in mock surprise. "Oops, I told you anyway."

He then quickly dove away when Kuja spat out all the tea that had gone into his mouth before hearing that statement. Zidane's features contorted severely. He then proceeded to laugh like crazy. Cloud put his hands to his ears, deciding that he'd better turn in for the night or risked throwing up all over the fireplace. He quietly crept towards the tent.

"Shut up, Zidane." Kuja murmured, wiping the residue tea left on his face off with his sleeves. When Zidane didn't, he flung the cup at the tail boy and managed to get him to. With a smirk, he waited for Zidane to recover from the cup and start amusing him with that ridiculously colourful language of his.

Before that happened, however, Squall intercepted, asking the same question again, "Well? Aren't you going to tell me? I might consider giving you the antidote."

"Oh, you don't scare me." Kuja rolled his eyes and looked away. "Poisoned the tea, feh. You obviously never studied your chemistry."

"Squall, tea is generically anti-poison," Cloud's disembodied voice came from somewhere, "think of something more believable the next time, heh."

"Okay, okay," Squall shrugged indifferently, "shoot me for ever trying to fool around in the first place, no? But Kuja, you still gotta answer my question." He gave Kuja a Look. Zidane had returned to his seat and was getting interested in the topic. After all, he HAD witness Kuja do whatever he had done to the reptile.

The older man in the pack sighed. "I... I don't know if you guys want to hear this, but...

"That snake, Midgar Zolom, you were calling it... it was... it was made up of Mist."

A series of dots greeted him.

"Okay, okay... Mist... how do I put this..." Kuja thought hard about it, "it looks like white smoke, but is essentially not white smoke, and is harmful for the living... but it's not like you'll die breathing it or something... Well... it's generated as a result of refining too much green stuff in the bottom of the Iifa Tree, which someone once called it the Soul Divider. The Mist itself isn't harmful, but as you saw, Mist can be used as a catalyst to produce monsters, beasts, as long as it's mixed with the right magic."

He sighed again, realizing he had began to rant.

"I... I felt that in the reptile when it laid there on the ground. I was merely trying to see if I could reverse the process and... yeah... it's true. The Zolom was created with Mist and black magic. That's why it dispersed into Mist and black magic when the process was reversed."

After that, there was an uncomfortable silence.

"You mean," Squall began, making Kuja wince as he expected the question, "you know how to create monsters using Mist and black magic, also?"

"I..." Kuja paused, "... know how to reverse the process," and half-lied. It was true, he knew how to reverse the process, but he wasn't going to tell them he knew how to create monsters too. He needed their trust. He couldn't get out of this if he merely hung on by himself.

He was going to die anyway, but... at least... he wanted to do this right...

His scathe attempts to hide the truth didn't hoodwink Squall, however, who frowned even more visibly. "A person can drink and he can spit, a person can cast and he can dispel, a person can summon and he can dismiss... a person can reverse the process of creating monsters... so he can also create?"

"Squall," came the voice, not of Kuja's, but Zidane's, "stop it."

Squall did stop, but he continued to brood.

"What does it matter?" Zidane continued, with a semi-determined expression on his face. "So what if Kuja can create monsters? So what if he can't? If he doesn't want to talk about it, why don't you... why don't WE just... leave him alone?"

"Because it involves a great amount of trust," Kuja intervened, patting Zidane lightly on the head in silent appreciation for the vote of confidence, "something not everybody gives away as readily as you do, Zidane." Turning back to Squall, he appeared hesitant, but only for a split second. He then nodded and said, "You're right, Squall. I guess there's no need to hide it at all. You can look at it as my special ability of sorts, or something, hahaha..." he cleared his throat, "... I can, and have created monsters with Mist before. Of course, I can also reverse the process if I can guess the formula, like I did with that snake. Hmmm... what else should I say... ?" He vainly struck a thinking pose.

Three blue lines slid down Squall's left eye. He coughed for attention. "So, Kuja... can you, create any monsters now?"

The ex-villian questioned the import of that question with a pointed stare and a long silence. He finally closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Can I create monsters? Yes I can, with Mist and black magic... but *can* I create monsters? No I cannot, for it would be unfair. Given an awareness but refused a will, able to think but unable to decide... it's like buying friends with money... the magic will eventually die one day... even if you created tens of thousands of monsters, all at your beck and call, you'll just find out one day that... none of them, not a single one at all... really belongs to you..."

Kuja sat down heavily onto the log. He hid his head into his hands and whispered something that was barely audible.

"... I am a monster... I know..."

Numbed by the suddenness of his words, Zidane kept looking at Kuja with a series of mixed emotions flashing by his face. Even though there were many times his mouth opened to say one thing or another, no sound eventually left his lips. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to react.

Squall, however, knew what he had to say. He looked up from his brooding position from the other side of the fire.

"I'm sorry."

It took Kuja some time to realize that Squall was apologizing to him. Pulling his face out from the palms of his hand, he gave the scar-face teenager an inquiring look.

"For not leaving matters as they were," Squall hastened to explain, "for not giving you space for your own little secrets," he smiled, although a mere qwerk of the lips, a genuine smile, "for... not believing you, for suspecting you hid something that would eventually cause me... cause US, to regret this partnership...

"... you made me realize that SeeDs aren't the only ones out there who're thought of as monsters because of strict adherence to instructions they have no say, no choice and no part in. I guess I should say 'Thank you', too."

Being the seeming outsider to this conversation, Zidane found himself thinking about, but unable to comprehend what they both said and meant. Somehow, what they said sounded familiar, to a certain extent he thought he could even emphathize. But how could that be possible? He didn't have any remembrance of what had happened prior to meeting the three of them in the Chocobo Sage's house. But he did remember the bright blue light, the big eye in the sky, and fragments of other things he couldn't quite piece together. What was it they were saying that made him feel so... roused? Was he suffering from some kind of selective memory disorder?

Or was someone trying to make him forget... ?

Just when he thought he had reached a door to his storehouse of memories, a sharp pain jolted through his head and brought him on his knees, cursing and panting. It didn't make the headache go away, but at least he could tell the others about it. Maybe they could do something to help.

Sure enough, as soon as he doubled over in pain, he could see Kuja hovering over him, saying something he couldn't quite hear. In fact, he could see Squall as well, shaking him gently and again, saying something he couldn't hear. Finally, he stopped paying attention to the conscious and gave in to the relentless pain wracking his body.

And maybe when he woke up, he'd forget everything...

*... everything...*

 

\-------------------------------  
wakatteta  
4/5/2001


	7. wakari tsuzukeru

Standard disclaimers apply.

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
wakari tsuzukeru

 

"What's going on??" Cloud demanded the moment he crawled out of the tent, unable to rest with the crazy racket Squall and Kuja were making. They did realize they were on a big, flat piece of grasslands, didn't they? If the monsters were attracted, they probably wouldn't even have time to sleep tonight!

His two other friends were oblivious to his entrance to the scene however, as they continued murmuring loudly and sometimes shouting a word of command or two to one another. When he finally got close enough, he noticed that he hadn't heard the usually noisy Zidane. Squall ducked into the shadows into his own tent and returned quickly with some semblence of a ration pitcher. He then attempted to pour it on someone who was resting against the log Kuja was sitting on.

Cloud rushed over when he saw who it was. "What's going on?" He asked again when he was sure the others could see and hear him. Kuja gave him a confused look and shook his head.

"I don't know." He sighed. "He was trying to remember, but I guess his subconsciousness didn't want him to."

"Water's not helping." Squall withdrew the receptacle. "Guess we'll just have to rest him up." He then sat down cross-legged on the grass, scratching his head and sighing softly. "Does this always happen?" He asked nobody in particular. "I never knew trying to remember something could be so painful."

Although he didn't know why, Cloud decided that he was rather annoyed with that simple comment. "How would you know anything about trying to remember a past you can't seem to reach?" He frowned. "You've never suffered from memory loss before."

Squall then looked at him like he was a moogle on crack. "Of course I suffer from memory loss. I junction G.F.s, remember?" He then stopped and looked like he just realized HE was the moogle on crack. "Oh, sorry. I never told you I junctioned G.F.s."

Kuja didn't know how much of this he could stand before he would try to knock himself unconscious. The look on his face told Squall that it was imperative he explained himself. Which he did, surprisingly. But not before he let a long, stretching sigh leave his mouth.

"Cloud uses materia to cast magic, summon creatures and do all that schmuck," Squall began, "Kuja's spells are imbued in him..."

"But I have to use certain items to draw them out. Only when I do that can I use the spells without abovementioned catalysts." Kuja added. Squall nodded.

"... and me," he continued where the silver-haired man left off, "I have to junction Guardian Forces, G.F.s for short, to myself. Using these G.F.s, I'll be able to draw magic, use magic, summon the G.F.s themselves, and do a lot of other stuff; provided that the G.F.s are capable of them."

Cloud looked thoughtful for a while, before saying, "You mean this 'junctioning' thing is essentially COMBINING yourself and those G.F.s together during and outside battle so you can use commands you don't normally know or have?"

Squall nodded. "That was essentially what junctioning G.F.s was, except for one part. When a person junctions G.F.s, he risks losing a part of his memories to the G.F., who would eventually take over a part of the brain and reside there.

"Not that the memories are repressed forever, that is," Squall quickly added, "they just don't seem to be there. The junctioner can't seem to remember. And if he ever DOES think back about the past, he'd just find a blank. It wouldn't hurt, like what I always see Zidane going through." He brooded. "That's why... that's why I said I didn't understand."

"While that may be an all in all acceptable argument for Zidane's memory loss," Kuja frowned, "I also know a hard knock to the head would probably do the same to a person's remembrance; probably worse." He smiled sadly. "He... we've been through a lot, before we found you guys. It's going to be hard to trace the root of the problem."

Despite Kuja's lamentations, Cloud appeared to be pondering on what had just been discussed. "Squall," he called out quietly, "junctioning a G.F., is it a physical or a spiritual kind of connection?"

"What?" Squall wasn't sure if he understood that correctly.

"You know," Cloud made a sign with his hand, "do you junction G.F.s physically to your body or just spiritually to your mind?"

"Well, to the mind, of course!" Squall sounded offended, and then shot Kuja, who was beginning to giggle, a death glare. He didn't need to be a genius to know that Kuja was thinking about how a Squall+Shiva entity would look like, if junctioning was truly done physically. "Otherwise I think I'd be looking like a freak, what with Shiva, Ifrit, Cerberus, oh gosh, that thing's got 3 heads for goodness sake!" He scowled at the thought. Cloud merely broke into a grin.

"Right, I should've guessed, you know. No summon creature'd look at dandy as you do, Squall, heheheh. So there's no junctioning that takes place physically, eh?"

"I really don't understand why you're asking this, but actually, there is." Squall threw his hands into the air. "Ultimecia junctioned herself physically onto Griever. Gosh, that was one ugly junction if I ever saw one."

"....." went Cloud.

"....." went Kuja.

"...................." went Squall. "Ultimecia was a sorceress from the future. She was the one who started all this time compression crap. Griever was the legendary strongest G.F. in the world." He picked his pendant up from the chain around his neck and flashed it in the audience's eyes. "He looked something like this, except he was much bigger and tougher, of course."

"Excuse me for sounding stupid, but where exactly do you get G.F.s from?" Kuja interrupted. "Chase them down on chocobos?"

"Well, some G.F.s can be acquired by fighting and then winning them, but we usually draw them, like we draw spells."

Kuja looked almost exasperated. "Draw?" He then put a finger to the sand and drew a tortoise with a weird head. "Draw?" He asked again, pointing at the tortoise.

Squall gave him a weird look, then stood up and drew his weapon, murmuring something the rest couldn't quite hear. Before they could ask, bright sparkles emerged from Kuja's body to where Squall was standing, disappearing within the young SeeD. The ex-villian gave a yelp, surprised at the suddeness of the movement and the fact that he felt no pain. He then looked to Squall and expected an explanation.

"Wow," was the first thing Squall said when he opened his eyes, "15 Ultimas! You must have a really high level." He laughed. He then turned to the unsuspecting Cloud and used the same spell on him. Only this time, sparkles didn't dance off as they did Kuja. Squall frowned, confused. He tried it again. And again. And again. It wasn't possible to fail a draw so many times. He wondered what had happened.

"Funny," Squall sat back down on the grass, "I couldn't draw from Cloud but I could draw from Kuja." He put his fingers to his chin. "Now that I think about it, only enemies have spells to be drawn, and the ones I can't draw from are comrades... hmmm..."

"Are you insinuating something, Mr. Squall Leonhart?!" Kuja flicked his silver tresses around and flushed. It was a good thing campfire was orange, otherwise he was going to have a hard time explaining the blush of rage. Or rather, self-admittance. It was true. He WAS a villian. What could he say? Oh don't worry, I'm NOT going to destroy the world now, though I WAS trying to. While still seething, he heard Squall's good-natured laugh.

"No, no, I'm not insinuating ANYTHING, Kuja," he held both his hands up in defense, "it's a wonky world where the past, present and future are all in one compressed space, so many weird things can happen." He then paused for a while.

"Like how you knew my surname without me telling you, for example."

That threw his mind slightly off-balanced. Squall's surname? Wasn't it 'Leonhart'? Funny, he'd always knew it, although now that he came to think about it, Squall never *did* tell anybody his surname. The red left his face. Now he was decidedly white.

Yeah... how DID he know... ?

"Earth to Kuja, Earth to Kuja..." Cloud pushed the vainpot slightly with his boot, in an attempt to get him to snap back to the conversation. His only acknowledgement was a faraway stare in Kuja's eyes. He sighed and turned to Squall. Why did Squall always have to be the one who's conversational, when he really WASN'T, theoratically, that conversational?

"Hey, Squall..." Cloud began, a little unsure of what he wanted to know.

"... Yeah?" Came the slow, steady and bored reply.

"Can you detect what you can draw in a person?"

"... Yeah. If I've come across the spell before."

"Good!" Cloud clapped his hands together. He then pointed at the unconscious Zidane. "Tell me if you can detect anything to draw from this little guy over here."

Squall nodded, then stood up, murmuring the same words he had when he tried to draw from Cloud and Kuja. The little monkey boy began to glow quietly with a soft, white light. Cloud noticed Squall frowning a little halfway through the detection, but at least setting Zidane on soft, white light had gotten Kuja's attention back into the real world. He waited for Squall to finish up.

"I can't..." Squall began, eyes still closed, "... I can't detect it..."

"Figures." Kuja muttered dryly. "Zidane isn't an enemy, you do realize."

"No! I mean," the teenager gritted his teeth, "there's something there for me to draw... I just... can't tell what it is... can't cast it... can't even stock it..."

With those words he broke from concentration and let out a huge gasp. He then sank to his knees and panted hard.

"You don't look like you're all right." Cloud commented, digging into the inventory. "Here, have a potion." He flung the potion over to Squall. "Talk to us only if and when you feel like it, okay?"

The young SeeD nodded and managed to have a bit of the potion he was just thrown. After spending a few more seconds trying to catch his breath, he decided that he was simmered down enough to talk. He changed his position to a more comfortable, sitting position, indicating his readiness.

"You actually could *sense* that there something you could draw from Zidane??" Kuja immediately asked. "But... that's ridiculous!" He almost snorted. "Zidane... isn't an enemy..."

"Woah, chill, Kuja." Cloud fanned his hands in a waving position in hopes that it would accelerate the soft breeze around the plains, and in the event cooling the worked up Kuja down. "Let the boy have his piece first, okay?"

"........................" went Squall, waiting for Kuja to nod and settle back before continuing, "There was one spell I could draw from Zidane... it's a spell I've never stocked, casted or seen before... but when I pressed on with it's status, I found out that it couldn't be stocked or casted, like the other spells I could draw from other people."

There was a dramatic pause. Someone had to teach Squall about coherence sometimes.

"Which means?" Cloud finally broke the silence.

"... considering the fact that he's a supposed ally and I'm not supposed to be able to draw anything in the first place," Squall began, slowly, cautiously, "there can really only be one possibility..."

Kuja found himself leaning forward in anxiousness despite himself.

"... there's a... sleeping G.F. I've never come across before junctioned to his mind." He finished off with a tone of uncertainty... and something else. A tone of apology, perhaps? He sure as anything didn't know and didn't want to. Especially when Kuja was looking at him like he was tomorrow's breakfast; or worst still, tonight's supper. He could feel himself cringing. After all, the only other creature he remembered who stocked Ultima spells was the Omega Weapon, and memories of that thing was a nightmare he NEVER wanted to live through again. If Kuja was strong enough to stock Ultima spells, and oh might he add, Curaga, Meteo, Holy and a consortium of some other spells he didn't want to know WHERE Kuja had gotten from, he KNEW he wasn't going to be left standing if Kuja took offence and started lashing out. He HAD gotten 100% for Judgment in the SeeD exam.

It was therefore, to his surprise when Kuja's fist shook in rage, only for a short while, before he gave a long sigh and sat himself back onto the log. He was definitely frustrated, but not at Squall. Not at Cloud. Not at anything. Maybe with himself, but nobody could really tell.

"Are you..." Kuja began, trying to suppress the vehemence in his tone, "... absolutely, sure about what you just said? That... there's a monster hibernating in Zidane's brain..."

"G.F.s aren't monsters." Squall frowned, but for some reason or another thought otherwise of the strange entity hibernating in Zidane's mind. "But I AM absolutely sure. I can't NOT be sure. The Garden Laws forbid that. Sharp judgment about spells and junctions are tantamount to entering a battle in top condition and surviving it in an even better one." He did the little funny SeeD salute thing for the first time since he'd met these guys. "You have my word for that."

He heard Kuja sigh again, and not for the first time that evening, too. "I knew the Iifa Tree didn't really manage to knock him hard enough on the head to cause memory disturbances..." he began jabbering in a hushed whisper, "but having magick from ANOTHER time and space steal his memories... oh gosh, what would his dear canary say? What would Mikoto say?" He began to laugh bitterly. "All this because he wanted to go back and save a dying man!!"

"Kuja..." Squall was feeling a little frightened. When the laughing villian didn't quite answer him, he looked at Cloud, feeling lost. The expression Cloud wore on his face told him the blond was pretty much as lost as he was. They continued hearing Kuja laugh like there would be no time to do that anymore, until he stood up and graciously sashayed into his tent, still laughing.

Cloud stood up too, dusting his pants. "Well, since I don't know what to say and do, I might as well let that decision come to me in my dreams." He grinned, giving Squall the thumbs-up sign. "That means you have just volunteered to move Zidane into his tent. Thanks, Squall! You're the best, you know?" He purposely gave an earth-shaking yawn. "Good night!"

When the blond disappeared into his tent, Squall turned his attention to the other blond in the visible vicinity. Careless to all that surrounded him, Zidane slept like a pig.

There was something about him that bothered Squall. Maybe it wasn't HIM, him. Maybe it was the weird draw he had performed. Something had hidden inside Zidane? A sleeping G.F. even? He'd thought he knew all G.F.s, from Shiva to Eden. There were OTHER G.F.s he didn't know about? It was piquing his curiousity, but he also knew Cloud would kill him if he didn't get Zidane into sheltered places right now. He sighed.

What would he give to have Rinoa with him...

"..." went Squall. He then looked up to see a shooting star across the skies.

"Did I just say that out loud?" He wondered.

"... Rinoa..."

 

\-------------------------------  
wakari tsuzuketa  
10/6/2001


	8. Chapter 8

Standard disclaimers apply.

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
tsuku

 

The morning was mostly uneventful. Any random monsters were quickly cut down by the strangely motivated team of four. Not surprisingly, Zidane was the only one complaining non-stop about the weather and lack of entertainment, having completely forgotten what had happened yesterday. Kuja played his part of the patronizing brother well enough, smiling slightly every now and then to the corny jokes the monkey was making. But otherwise, he was quiet and restrained. Even Cloud was beginning to feel like giving up, whereas Squall, being Squall, continued looking bothered and bored.

When Midgar became more than just a dark silouette in the foreground, Cloud stepped on something he decided was debris. Bending down on one knee to examine it, he realized that it WAS debris. Except for one thing. It was also covered with pulsating green liquid.

"... Mako..." He found himself spitting the words out as if they were poisoned. When the rest looked over, he spun around and warned, "Don't touch the green thing; it's poisonous."

"What exactly is it?" Squall asked in curiousity. "It looks... beautiful." He said, for lack of a better adjective to describe the mesmerizing green glow. That made Cloud scowl angrily, to everybody's surprise. It was rare to see the usually cool mercenary lose his control, especially not to such an extent, especially not when the cause of his anger seemed entirely unrelated to him at all...

... or maybe it was... ?

Cloud knew that Mako was beautiful. Cloud knew that Mako was also helpful. But Mako was also industrially refined Lifestream. It wasn't natural Mako hiding the mountains of Mount Nibel. It wasn't concentrated Mako which people termed as materia, and used for calling upon the Ancient's knowledge. How could he agree to such a life-drainer being nice and spiffy? He knew the others didn't know, but Mako didn't bring back good memories at all. No, not one encounter he had had with Mako had been pleasant. It didn't matter if the others didn't understand. It would be better if they didn't know, anyway.

"Let's go." He stood up and said tersely. When he walked briskly forward without a second word, even Squall was wide-eyed with unbridled surprise. He merely threw Zidane and Kuja a quick look and then followed Cloud down the grasslands. Zidane shrugged and followed too, leaving only Kuja behind, staring at the green glow with a thoughtful expression on his face.

Whatever he had been thinking about was quickly shoved to the back of his mind, when he turned around with his usual grace and slowly made his way to where his three other comrades were.

During the short walk to Midgar from there, they encountered alot more debris, all with glowing green goo painted over them. The monsters started to increase in frequency, grow in size and double in power. The walk was short, granted, but the battles probably made it longer. They finally arrived at the Sector 5 gate, safe and sound, and Cloud dug around for the Key to Sector 5.

While he did that, Zidane looked through the translucent walls of the city and pressed his face against it, trying to see beyond the metal and light of the outer shell of the city. It was a large city. He was exciting himself to explore it. Maybe there'd be a lot of pretty girls inside. It's been some time since he had chased skirts down. He sniggered, turning around and leaning against the stout gate of Sector 5.

There was a loud crash.

And the stout gate of Sector 5 wasn't so stout anymore.

"Zidane! You okay?" Kuja was the first to run to the cloud of dust that had formed where the gate to Sector 5 used to be. He coughed hard when he breathed the particles in, but continued waving the dust away until Zidane's tail was visible. By that time, Cloud and Squall had gotten over their shock and were already beside him, trying to lift the brittle metal gate to reveal the trapped monkey. They didn't have to. He revealed himself in time, coughing and gacking away.

"That's one hell of a security system this city has!!" He cursed immediately when he was well enough to speak, shaking his fist at the door that wasn't there anymore. He agressively dusted his pants and gave the debris a hard kick.

Cloud frowned and stepped beyond the broken doors to feel the air of Midgar once again. The air was heavy with emotions, mostly negative. Even though the rotting pizza wasn't exactly situated at a place where winds could reach with ease, the lack of breeze disturbed the one-time Midgar mercenary. Without warning, his feet began to take flight.

There was something wrong. He wanted to know what it was.

"Cloud, wait!" Squall called out after the running man, confused. Looking back at Zidane and Kuja, they both nodded to give him the go ahead to follow. Squall then ran off in Cloud's general direction. When Zidane was about to do the same, he noticed that Kuja had bent down to inspect the debris, or more specifically, the ground and the green goo covering it. Quickly, the tail-boy stopped and back-tracked, wondering what was so interesting.

Kuja looked decidedly disturbed. He reached out and touched the green thing.

"!!" was all Zidane could express before Kuja removed his hand and inspected whatever had gathered on his hand. The former then shook his head and exclaimed, "Cloud said it was poisonous! Do you know what you're doing?!"

"Ah, yes. It is poisonous all right." Kuja shook his wrists, making the green goo on his hand fly all around. "But only to those who receive their energy from it. Only to those who receive life from it." He put his hand on his waist, staring far away with his brows knitted together. "Those who do not originate from this planet... this green substance can do no harm to them..."

"... Then that means... we're not on Terra..." Zidane's voice startled Kuja into whipping around at breakneck speed. "Terra's fuel has always been blue." The boy continued, with the same, dead-pan expression as he had when he sprouted some naught about Garland and Memoria the other time.

Kuja could only stare. With staring, he observed that Zidane's eyes were blank and phased out. Light did not reflect off it. Shadows did not form on it. He did not blink once. When a stoic wind stirred, Zidane looked almost eerie.

Kuja could only stare.

\-------------------------------

He raced, leapt and finally caught up with the subject of his pursue, the latter of which had made his way deep into the Mako fortified city but had currently stopped to take in the surroundings.

His face was blank, but his indignance could be felt.

"What did you think you were doing, running off like that..." Squall muttered breathlessly, holding onto a nearby boulder for support while he tried to catch his breath. The boulder crumbled at his touch and fell to the ground, leaving him wide-eyed with surprise. Further attempts to grab the remaining boulder proved to be futile, so the boy finally gave up and concentrated on extracting answers from his silent companion instead.

"Midgar..." Cloud finally said quietly, turning his head in all directions to look at the once-magnificent city. "... what happened... ?"

Squall, in turn, gave Cloud a mystified stare. He then took a few steps foward to join him in looking at what was around them. What he saw was a pile of debris, just like the ones they had seen outside the city. Except, this area they were in was probably the center of the city. There was a huge pool of green substance swirling around in the middle of the debris, green glow bouncing eerily off the tall, abandoned buildings around it.

"... This is Midgar?" Squall raised an eyebrow. "Where're the people?" Was his first enquiry after the green goo. From the corner of his eye, he saw Cloud shake his head in disbelief.

"It can't be!" He dug around frantically for something, finally fishing out a tele-communication equipment from his pockets. He then jabbed at it as frantically as he got it out.

The SeeD watched with slight amusement, although he knew he shouldn't be amused, at Cloud dialling in number after number, but failing to establish a connection no matter how. He saw Cloud grow from frantic, to puzzled, to irritated, and finally, to frustrated. After a long while, the blond mercenary sighed and switched off the PHS, signalling the end of his attempts to get anybody he knew around.

When he caught Squall's eye, he gave an exasperated expression and nodded, saying, "Yes, yes, I know. Time is wonky. Magnificant buildings of my time have now become piles of rot. People I know no longer exist to be contacted. Technology I use no longer work, or can be manipulated." He sighed. "So, what's new?"

"..........." went Squall, "... hey, look on the bright side." He leapt from where he was standing to the boulder Cloud was perched on. "At least we now know we're going further and further into the future from your time." He tried a silly version of a grin he always saw Rinoa do. "That's why buildings are starting to decay and technology get out-dated, right?"

Cloud could only nod, rubbing the temples of his head furiously. "That's candy dandy and all, Squall, but could you stop shaking the boulder? I'm beginning to get motion sick."

"?" Squall looked down at his feet and saw that the boulder was indeed trembling, ever so slightly. Takes a real motion sickaphobe to detect soft shaking like this, Squall grinned inwardly. However, he was sure he wasn't causing the shaking, so he asked, "What do you mean? I'm not shaking anything."

The blond looked up at him with intense Mako blue eyes, as if questioning the truthfulness of that statement, until the shaking got so bad, they both had to leap from boulder to boulder back to the firm ground. The pool of Mako stirred and groaned, the quaking causing large bubbles to burst atop the surface. Finally, the trembling turned into a full scale earthquake. The duo only had enough time to pull out their weapons in preparation for the worse.

A massive, gargoyle-like creature rose from the depths of the Mako pool, screaming and screeching for dear life. For a few seconds, all they could do was stare gap-jawed. Then Cloud shook out of it and scanned the area around them, asking, "Where's Zidane and Kuja?"

"I don't know?" Squall replied, turning to look behind his shoulder at the vast, empty land behind him. "I thought they followed me, but apparently, they didn't." He then turned back to the creature, which was busy shaking glowing Mako off it's body and advancing towards the two other living souls in the area.

"No time for that now!" Cloud yelled, leaping nimbly away from a snide slash of the creature.

"First we survive this, then we talk!"

\-------------------------------

After listening to Zidane yabber on for some more, Kuja began to notice that the surroundings had started to change - drastically.

At first, it was just the ground. Soft mud turned into hard, cracked soil, peeling off the surface of the earth as dried paint peels off walls. That he could attribute to the winds, but it was funny to see the transformation occur so quickly and without warning. Then he noticed the debris as well. intimidating chunks of rocks and boulders, in a matter of just a few seconds, degenerated into nothing more than sand and stones on the dried ground. He turned from left to right, unable to believe his eyes. The skies, too, changed from reddish orange, to darkish blue, to reddish orange again, engaging in an everlasting cycle of day and night. Kuja finally looked up from his observations with slight horror evident on his face.

It was as if time was racing forward for the earth, but staying put for them.

Zidane still had the blank look on his face, the winds whipping his hair around him. As he stood within the fast changing scenery, Kuja could sense a weird energy coming from within him. It was creepy. Absolutely creepy.

"Terra is dying." Zidane suddenly said, widening his already widened eyes, his empty, green irises betraying the state of his mind no matter how intelligent he sounded. "We must absorb Gaia to survive."

"Zidane, stop that!!" Kuja's eyes turned feline and Flare gathered in his right hand. "Don't make me do it for you."

He didn't know why the boy was sprouting so much nonsense, although he had hoped that it was his subconsciousness slowly feeding his consciousness with what he had known when he still remembered the past. Right now, the situation was looking bleak enough. He sure as anything didn't need Zidane to pass out on him if he was going to try too hard to remember, again.

As if in reply, the boy closed his eyes slowly and relaxed. The next moment when he opened his eyes, Kuja jumped at the difference. The blank, phased out look was replaced by the usual gaze of relaxed awareness the thief had always possessed. For a confused moment, Zidane looked at Kuja, who was still ready to cast Flare. When a big sweatdrop rolled down his forehead, Kuja too realized what he was doing and extinguished the spell immediately. He laughed.

"Gee, thanks." Zidane raised an eyebrow in semi-exasperation. "And to think I was just standing here, trying to admire the scenery."

Kuja opened his mouth to rebut that statement, but closed it immediately when he knew Zidane wouldn't be able to understand what he was saying anyway. Whenever he went into semi-trance mode and started spewing information only the Zidane with memories knew, he could never remember what had happened after that. So instead, he said, "What scenery? Unless you're telling me dust and stones are your cup of tea, I don't really..."

He stopped in mid-sentence, when Zidane stooped down and pulled out a handful of fresh, green grass from the ground. An audible gasp escaped from his lips, which he quickly covered with his hands. A quick scan of the surroundings confirmed what he was seeing.

The dried earth that had been there just a minute ago was now a vast land of lush greenary. Even the brooding winds turned into a refreshing breeze. Birds flew overhead, animals scampered about. The tallest building in the middle of the city, which was apparently the only metallic thing that remained, was covered from top to toe with climbing vines.

Too many shocks in one day was not good for his health, Kuja decided as he sank slowly to his knees, on the verge of hyper-ventilating.

"Zidane! Kuja!" He heard a couple of voices from afar. When he looked up, he saw Cloud and Squall trodding through the grasslands that was Midgar towards them. Zidane waved happily, but Kuja decided that he was too out of it to acknowledge them. He groaned and sank further into his mind.

"Hey." Cloud greeted as soon as he came within hearing range. Squall merely stood somewhere nearby, trying to catch his breath. "Good to see that you're all right..." He stopped when he saw the look on Kuja's face. Okay, maybe they weren't ALL that all right. Damn, that guy was hard to read. The fact that he had the weirdest moodswings didn't help. Deciding to ignore the silent silver-hair man for a while, he turned to Zidane instead.

"I don't suppose I could ask you this, but, what happened?" He folded his arms across his chest. "One moment we're fighting this huge, green thing that came out of a deep, Mako pool, the next thing we know, it just ebbed away... disappeared just like that, and we're surrounded by greens and more greens." He scratched his hair in confusion. "You didn't do anything, did you?"

It was to everyone's surprise that Zidane started to consider the question. Even Squall was pretty sure he'd start denying it vehemently and then they'd have to go back to square one. From within his eyes, one could spot disturbed thoughts.

Did Zidane know? Or did he not?

"The blue light..." He began to speak, releasing the grass he had gathered previously. Lifting his hands to cup his head, he contined, "... it must have been the blue light... !"

"The blue what?" Squall surprised himself by exclaiming. He quickly shut himself up and ignored the funny stares he was receiving from Cloud and Kuja. Hey, he thought, I've got a voice too... so what's so weird about me talking?

Before anyone could continue, they heard a voice from afar.

"CLOUD!!"

Okay, it was getting closer and closer. The footsteps were, too. When Cloud turned around to the direction of the voice, he was bowled over in a series of somersaults on the ground by the force of a large red beast with a flaming tail. His three other companions looked on with varied degrees of interest, but none said anything until Cloud finally stopped turning in circles. The large red beast's tail swept around excitedly.

"It IS you! Oh my goodness! I... I can't believe this!" The beast said, causing all the other 3 to grow in curiousity at the talking animal.

Cloud cracked open an eye and looked at the entity that had pounced on him. His disorientated look was quickly replaced by one of joy. "Nanaki!" He clambered into a sitting position, putting his hands on Nanaki's shoulders. Well, whatever he had in place of shoulders, anyway. He laughed, genuinely happy. "How long has it been? Imagine meeting you in circumstances like this!" Cloud stopped when he noticed the two little cubs Nanaki had beside him. He shot the sentient beast a sly look. "Oooh, you have a family already, haven't you? Congrats, man!"

If the red beast could turn redder than he already was, then he probably did. But he shook his head quickly and turned serious, putting a paw on Cloud's leg. "Cloud, where have you been all this time? We had such a hard time looking for you!"

"Oh, here and there, there and here." He shrugged nonchalantly. When Nanaki looked weirdly at the 3 people behind him, and was reciprocated, Cloud then stepped aside and smiled.

"Hey, meet my new friends, Squall, Zidane and Kuja." He introduced, starting from left to right. "Guys, meet my old friend, Nanaki."

"Pleased to meet you." Kuja was quick to be polite, as usual, standing up and giving a sweeping bow. Zidane waved and Squall nodded.

"Pleased to meet you too." Nanaki smiled slightly. He wasn't going to start questioning things now, so he turned back to Cloud, who was beginning to want to say something.

"I came to Midgar to find Tifa, Reeve and the rest of the guys." The blond mercenary informed the red beast. "I wanted to discuss something." He jerked a finger to the 3 standing behind him. "About them." He then looked at the beast with hopeful eyes. "It doesn't look like they're here, so... you know where I can find them?"

Nanaki frowned tremendously and retreated a few steps away, shaking his head.

"Cloud," he managed to say, "it's been 500 years."

Everybody's jaw dropped.

"What makes you think they're all still alive... ?"

 

\-------------------------------  
tsuita  
13/6/2001


	9. Chapter 9

Standard disclaimers apply.

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
kidou suru

 

It was the only second night they had spent in this time compressed world.

Yet between their meeting and arrival at Midgar, 500 years had passed.

Just... like that.

"It was just some strange intuition," Nanaki said, swaying his flaming tail left to right, "I just felt I had to come to Midgar, perhaps to show my children what was left of the grand city, the rotting pizza..." He shook his head and smiled sadly. "I... I'm glad to see you again, after so long, Cloud..."

Cloud, however, was not listening.

"Cloud... I... I'm sorry..." Nanaki looked away from Cloud's empty gaze into the campfire they had risen under the former Shinra Building. "... I thought you knew, I thought..."

He stopped, unable to continue, before he felt a gentle hand rest on his head.

"Hey." Zidane grinned, squating down beside the creature with a good natured laugh. "You don't have to feel bad. It wasn't your fault at all, you know?"

Giving him his own little smile, Nanaki was glad for the understanding. Despite being a father and all, he still failed to comprehend some of the more complex emotions the people around him felt. The intensity and extent of their heart was beyond him. He knew he couldn't deal with even those at Cosmo Canyon, less the one and only Cloud Strife. Although having followed him on his quest for a while, he still failed to see Cloud; the real Cloud. While he knew Cloud knew everything he had to share with the world, he never thought he knew Cloud on the same basis.

Cloud was just so distant. Unreachable. Sure, he was with him and the rest almost every other day, but he tried, and failed to see him as a friend indeed. In the heat of the battle, he would save them. In the darkest of times, he would push them on. In the direst of situations, he would provide them. In the saddest of moments, his presence alone was something to be grateful for...

... but somehow, he failed to see any one of the rest doing that for Cloud.

Perhaps... when he saved the world, he forgot to save himself...

"Nanaki." A firm voice called him back to the world. He turned to look at the silver-haired man who had said that. He hated to admit it, but Kuja gave him the creeps. Maybe it was just the long silver hair. Maybe.

"I noticed that you were surprised, not at Cloud being alive, but at finding him in Midgar." Kuja frowned slightly. "May I inquire as to why that is so?"

"Because Vincent said so." Nanaki immediately replied, the answer causing Cloud to look up with a start. Though uncomfortable with having so many strange eyes on him, the red beast continued. "He said that he had been doing some research on the studies of the cells within him. He found out that because Jenova was from a di-"

"Jenova?!?!" Squall and Kuja chimed in at the same time. They then turned to look at each other. "You know her??" They pointed.

"Ahem..." Cloud coughed for attention. "... Do you mind? I'm in the middle of listening to a story that will determine my view of life hereafter. Leave the distractions for later, okay?"

Squall and Kuja simmered down, sat back, and kept silent. Nanaki looked at Cloud and saw the go-ahead.

"Anyway, as I was saying," Nanaki blinked, "he found out that because Jenova was from a different planet, her cells were causing some abnormal reactions within him, some of which included his transformations and strange eye colour. But what was really shocking, was the reaction of the cells and Mako." He looked up and with his eyes warned Cloud to prepare for the information.

"While a little of it would make a SOLDIER out of anyone, heavy dosages apparently stopped growth, setting the physical body into semi-hibernation but releasing the mind to continue as per normal. That is, provided the subject survives the initial bout of Mako poisoning."

Cloud's head swirled. His eyes became as intense as ever.

"Which means?" The lack of emotion in his voice scared his three new companions, but merely told Nanaki that Cloud was entering into his special 'agitation' mode, in which his animalistic fury lurked behind a mask of calm composure, ready to pounce on the next thing that irritates him.

"Cloud," Nanaki closed his eyes, "I met Vincent just last week. That was when he told me all these. Well, what I could remember anyway..."

The beast sighed.

"500 years and he's still alive. Cloud, doesn't that tell you anything about yourself?" He shook his head again, shivering not because of the cold. "I wasn't surprised to see you alive, because I know... I know... Vincent had told me... that I shouldn't be surprised to see him, or Cloud, if I ever did see you. Then he walked away... I had so much to tell him, too..."

Zidane continued patting Nanaki on the head, exchanging glances back and forth between the beast and the now deep in thought mercenary. "You mean," he said, "that because of some cells and Mako thing inside Cloud's body, he's not going to age and die... "

"It's not absolute." Nanaki sounded tired. "Vincent said that it slowed growth, but didn't stop it completely. Eventually, he would probably age and die too, but not before seeing the people he loved disappear before him, one by one..."

They heard a short chuckle, which turned out to be Cloud. "Well, that's Vincent for you, always so optimistic about life." His lips curving into a small smile. He leaned backwards on the tree trunk he was resting on and didn't say anything else after that.

When the silence progressed, the impatient SeeD finally stood up and put his arms akimbo. "Can I talk now?" He sounded urgent, like he really had something to say. Something that would matter. When no one answered, he spoke anyway, "This Jenova entity... how is she related to you?"

Both Cloud and Nanaki looked up at him at the same time, saying, "The world's mortal enemy," before returning to what they were doing. Zidane was trying to smile despite his confusion. He noticed Kuja giggling, but he couldn't tell why. Although all he had to do was ask, he had a feeling he'd rather not know.

"How is she related to you, Squall?" Kuja stopped giggling and asked him.

Squall pouted, only for a while. "If I remember correctly," Squall said, "she was one of the first sorceresses, who disappeared while spearheading the outer space program that was running during her time." He lifted his fingers to stroke his chin. "People said that she was ambitious and uncompromising... she only did outer space research so that she could fuel her desire of ruling over all that was living..."

"During my time," Kuja continued, when Squall looked like he had finished his piece, "she was hailed as the ancient fore-runner of outer space research, which gave the people of the dying planet of Terra a hope... that if they could find another younger planet to absorb they could survive..."

"Wait wait wait wait!" Cloud held both hands up into a cross. "Time out, time out! What are you guys talking about??" He whistled with an irritated look mounted on his face. "This Jenova creature we're talking about has never been part of MY planet. She was foreign, and came crashing down on a space chariot about 2000... well, 2500 years ago. The fact that you guys are quoting her from history books..."

Kuja gently knocked his fist into his palm, with an 'oh-I-see' look on his face. "That explains it all. Why magick is SO different, why places you know turn out to be places I don't... We're not only from different times along the flow of history, but from different planets as well..."

Looking up, he awaited questions and inquires from the interested audience. All he got was a few rather bewildered faces. Zidane was shaking his head in utter confusion.

"I don't get it!" He suddenly stood up and faced Kuja with clenched fists. "I don't get it at all! What... what's the whole point in this time and dimension thing? It wasn't by some freak cause of nature that the four of us were thrown together like this, was it?? I mean, it could have been anyone! Why'd it have to be Cloud and Squall?" Sighing, he grabbed at his hair with both hands. "Why do I feel like I'm acting in someone's twisted attempt at a staged drama..."

"You guys..." Nanaki immediately cut into the conversation, "... look like you've got a lot of things to talk about." He frowned. "Time and dimension, eh? There may be some books about that in Cosmo Canyon. Why don't we all go there tomorrow? I don't think I understand everything you people are saying now, but... I'll do whatever I can to help."

"Thanks, Nanaki." Cloud landed a huge pat on the red beast's head, causing him sudden jitters, having expected Cloud to be the last person to react. He turned to see Cloud beaming. "I'd gladly take the offer. See you all tomorrow." The blond mercenary then turned and got into his tent.

The next to stand and retreat was none other than Mr. Articulate himself, Squall Leonhart; after having been silent most of the evening. He crept into his tent, almost unnoticed, as he blended in perfectly with the shadows of the night.

Which left Nanaki, Zidane and Kuja warming their toes around the fire.

"A purpose to our travelling together, is it..." Kuja murmured, barely audible and hardly coherent. "... perhaps it's true? Perhaps somebody had purposed this... ?"

"And if he had," Zidane quickly caught on, "just what is OUR role in this grand conspiracy he's written?" He frowned in frustration. "If he'd just tell us, it'd make things so much easier. I'm tired of wandering around, fighting monsters and trying to remember my past. I mean, I like travelling with you guys, but... I wish I knew exactly why I'd have to do that!" He punched against the fire, making it flicker for a while. "I don't wanna walk in a road with no destination anymore!"

His companions merely looked on, disturbed.

Especially Kuja.

His thoughts wandered to earlier that day, when Zidane was in his semi-trance prophetic mode, recalling the past and talking about the future. The more he thought about it, the more he knew it made sense.

Zidane had a strange ability. He probably didn't know it himself, but to an observant onlooker (like himself), it had become painfully obvious.

Everytime the monkey said something which he later wouldn't be able to remember, or caused him a great headache, time lurched forward in super-sonic speed. It first happened during the night they spent at the Chocobo Sage's house. He was talking about Baku and Tantalus, something an amnesiatic Zidane wouldn't have been able to. It didn't appear to have happened so quickly or obviously, but the very next day, it was as if they were already 10 years further down the flow of time.

The next time it happened, he remembered it was after the fight with the Midgar Zolom. At that time, he was too shocked to have noticed any change in the scenary to indicate time warping forward.

But by the time they reached Midgar, Zidane had sent them so forward in time, even Kuja was having difficulty believing 500 years had been the gap from when they first met in the Sleeping Forest to when they saw Nanaki.

Someone had protected them from the fast forwarding of history. After hanging out with the guys for so long, the silver-haired man had a rough idea why anyone would want the four of them to band together. Cloud, Squall, Zidane and himself. They were all strong, well balanced warriors in their own right. What one lacked would probably be covered up by the other. In fact, each one of them would probably do very well alone, less in a group with 3 other warriors as strong as they were.

Yes... someone... someone out there had wanted no less than the perfect team of fighters. It didn't matter they were from different times, did it? All he... or she, had to do was to compress time. Make it such that it didn't matter which epoch you lived in. As long as past, present and future were rolled into one sweet temaki, he could pick the strong ones, manipulate events to fire happenings, and get what he wanted.

If time compression had to do with sorceresses, Kuja thought as he eyed Squall's tent with a meaningful stare, then Squall is going to have alot of explaining to do in the morning...

"Well," Nanaki finally broke the silence, yawning, "if nothing's the matter now, I think I'll retreat for some rest, too."

When the red beast picked his cubs and went off, Kuja turned to Zidane, meaning to ask him to go to sleep as well, while he kept the night watch. He was alarmed to see the blond staring monotonously at the cackling fire, never blinking, never moving. It was a familiar, haunting, and horrifying scene.

"Gaia was a moon..." Zidane spoke softly, just as Kuja had expected he would. The latter then quickly sprinted to the former's side, hand raised above his head, ready to knock him unconscious if he had to, just so that he could stop time from decompressing. "... a moon of fire..." The boy managed to finish saying, before Kuja sent him into the land of sweet snores. He then brushed his fallen frindge aside, brow furrowed deep with worry.

"Gaia... was a moon?" He found himself repeating after Zidane. He then raised his head to consider the red moon hanging in the dark blue night sky. "... Gaia was a moon... to those in Terra...

"... so does that mean... Terra was also a moon to Gaia... ?"

\-------------------------------

Squall surprised himself by climbing out of his tent at the break of dawn, stretching and yawning as he charged through the thick mist to morning mist to where he thought he smelt food. He usually wasn't so awake, but aaah... food... it was good and always made him hurry. Sure enough, as he approached the campfire, seated just where they had been last night, Zidane and Kuja had a few small sticks of fish cooking to a crisp by the heat. Squall rubbed his gloved hands together and sat down too, observing the fish with curiousity. Where had they gotten these fish? The nearest watery area was a day's walk away...

"Hey Squall, hey Zidane, hey Kuja," Cloud's voice and footsteps was heard coming from his tent. The mist hid him until he was a few metres near the fire. "Wow! Would you look at that! A great breakfast after so many days... um, years, of travelling..." He seated himself down, looking intently at the fish, like Squall had. He then scratched his head, meaning to ask something, but frowned and apparently decided not to. Zidane pulled a stick from where it had been cooking and blew at it.

"It looks like they're cooked." Kuja said, reaching out for a stick himself. Cloud and Squall followed suit, carefully testing their lips and tongues on the heated fish before deciding to try biting it. For a while, they were all silent.

"Hey!" Zidane suddenly exclaimed, scaring (and choking) the rest. "What about Nanaki? I'm sure he'd like some too. I'll go call him." He grinned and, with the fish in his mouth, scampered off into the mist.

Kuja remained strangely silent. Squall had long finished his fish and was wondering if he should reach out for another one. There was something else on his mind, however. He looked straight at Kuja and asked, "Where'd you get all these fish? The nearest area to catch fish is about a day's journey away..."

To this, the silver-haired man looked up with an embittered look etched on his features, taking Squall by surprise. It was as if Squall had asked him a question along the lines of, "What's the square root of 11112863746.387?"

"Well," Kuja then smiled sadly and shrugged, "that's a secret. Until the mist clears, of course. Then I'll tell you."

Deciding that he was now fully justified to grab that stick of fish, Squall did as planned and pouted, only just for the effect. Cloud leant backwards and chuckled.

It was a peaceful, quiet morning.

Disrupted only by the rowdy shouts of the one and only Zidane, as he stomped back to the fire frantically. "Where's Nanaki???" He demanded to know, pointing in the general direction of the tents, causing heads to turn in all directions. "He's not in his tent. Anyone saw him?"

There was silence.

"Maybe he went for a walk with his sons," Cloud suggested cheerfully, finishing his breakfast and throwing the stick back into the fire. "You know, morning exercise. He's a big boy and can take care of himself."

Somehow, Zidane didn't look half as convinced as he should have been. However, further thought nudged him into the conclusion that there was really nothing he could do about it until at least the morning mist receded. He sat down, poking at the fire with a stick.

Then the mist did recede. It receded quickly once the sun rose into the skies majestically, leaving 3 of them staring at what surrounded them with disbelief written all over their faces.

It must be a dream.

Pinch.

Ow.

No, it HAS to be a dream.

PINCH.

OW!

Okay, so it wasn't a dream...

"Kuja," Cloud was still shocked, but somehow had the feeling the ex-villian knew something about it, "you... have got to tell us what's going on."

"Hmm?" Kuja smiled lazily, lightly tapping the surface of the water that now surrounded them with his boots. "Which part of it do you want to hear? Why we're suddenly being circled by water, or the fact that the water's touching everything but us?"

Cloud spun around with an irritated look. "You've thought about it *that* far already? Gosh, tell me EVERYTHING you know, Kuja. EVERYTHING."

\-------------------------------

And so the sun rose into the skies and hovered over the land with ease. From the east to the west, north to the south, the entire planet was covered with sparkling, blue water. Some mountains could still be seen, as with some of the taller buildings that had been built. But otherwise, everywhere one looked they would be greeted by the watery deep, whose silence and soft sloshing would be enough to drive any sane person insane, if they had been alone in this vast patch of people-less territory.

Of course, that was not the case for the four who sat by the fire, now burnt to a black pile in the middle of the gathering. They were all deep in thought.

"Wow." Zidane was the first to say something, as usual. "That was complex."

"I'm sure it was." Kuja's smile was unreadable. "I hope I have explained what I have observed so far clearly enough." He looked away graciously, having no heart to tell them that he had omitted the part about his relationship with Zidane as well as the monkey boy's true identity and birthplace. "When Zidane entered into that special mode again yesterday night... he must have sent time forward again, so much so that the person 'Nanaki' had already ceased to exist..."

"I still have some questions," Cloud frowned deeply, "about this whole time and dimension thing."

"As does the rest of us, I suppose." Squall surprised everybody by talking again. He grew irritated at the weird stares and lashed out mildly. "Is it very surprising to hear me speak? I DO have opinions I wish to voice out sometimes, you know."

Kuja chuckled and exchanged glances with the rest. "We know, Squall. It's just that sometimes, you go off into lala-land yourself and don't notice how obvious you are at it, with those long, thoughtful silences and everything. Hearing a person from lala-land suddenly speak up is bound to create some undesired and unplanned expressions, of course."

"We won't do it again!" Zidane promised. Squall looked away, even more irritated, while Cloud folded his arms and got serious.

"Whatever it is, the answers to our questions won't be found 'here'." Cloud took a long, sweeping glance at the forlorn looking environment. "If someone does have some grand plan for us, I expect they'd be needing to have us alive, but trapped enough to be manipulated. I'm not standing for that, and I know you guys won't stand for that either, so we're gonna have to start moving out." He made a sign with his hands. "We gotta keep moving. Even if there isn't a destination. At least we know we have a goal. And that goal is that we don't fall into the hands of the one behind this whole scheme. We're gonna show 'em that we aren't nice little stringed puppets. We're warriors with an attitude."

He paused, only to take a breather.

"And the first thing we do, is go to Squall's hometown, the planet Terra, to find the sorceresses behind this time compression thing. Then, we'll figure it out from there."

"So in the meantime, I try to stop prophesying and in the event hurtling time and dimensions apart?" Zidane's eyebrows went upwards in semi-embarassment, as if trying to quote a quote he couldn't quite remember. Three pairs of evil eyes targetted him.

"It's okay, Zidane." Kuja 'kukuku'ed and gave a malicious smile.

"We'll be more than glad to offer assistance in stopping you..." Cloud chimed in.

"Say..." Squall was saying, "... which one works better on you, spells or attacks?"

While the poor monkey boy could only cower and cry at his 3 travelling companions, hands on his head.

It was going to be a loooooooooooooooong trip...

 

\-------------------------------  
kidou shita  
24/6/2001


	10. Chapter 10

Standard disclaimers apply.

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
tsuki no namida da

 

"Big question number one!" Zidane raised his hand up.

"Yes, Student Zidane, please speak." Kuja pointed at Zidane with a teacher's rod from nowhere and nodded.

"Teacher Kuja," Zidane twiddled his fingers in embarassment, almost afraid that he was going to ask something stupid, "we are going to go to another planet called Terra, right?"

"Yes, Student Zidane. That is correct." Kuja raised a pale eyebrow.

"Well..."

"... Yes?"

Zidane sighed. He said, "Putting the fact that we are surrounded by water but have no water transportation aside... HOW in the world are we going to go to another *PLANET* when all we have with us are our feet??"

Kuja wagged a finger in front of his face and shook his head. "You don't have to worry, Student Zidane, for I have sent my assistants, Cloud and Squall to inspect the surroundings. Very soon they will return with news to rejoice over."

Zidane was silent.

Thrown off by the monkey's quietness, Kuja traced the direction Zidane was looking at and found himself turning around to face a person, masked with a hood and draped with a cape tattered and torn at the edges. It dragged all the way beyond his feet and whipped around his form with the slow sea breeze.

For a moment, both monkeys were taken aback by the eerie sight which greeted them. Here stood a man who carried an aura of mystery, clothed in weathered linen, expressions masked from view. The worst part of it was that he was standing 6 feet apart from them, atop volumes of water, but yet he did not sink. The waters merely rippled gracefully outwards from his feet.

And yet somehow, he felt familiar.

"Who are you?" Kuja finally found his voice and questioned, unconsciously taking a few steps back.

The masked figure lifted his head upwards. For a while, Kuja thought he could see a bright flash of blue from underneath. That moment soon passed, for the hood quickly covered whatever vestige of blue there was left for view.

"No one you should know." A soft, almost disembodied voice replied him. Zidane and Kuja turned to look at one another, obviously trying to determine whether the newcomer was a friend or foe. While they silently discussed, the man continued, casually remarking, "Your two other comrades are not here yet."

Zidane's loud "How did you... ?!?!" immediately resounded throughout the water-filled planet. Even Kuja was looking uncharacteristically perplexed. The masked man smiled, almost wistfully. He turned his head in another direction.

"But I think, that should be them, over there."

Cloud and Squall were busily scrambling over the waters towards their two friends, huffing and puffing when they finally arrived. They appeared to have alot of things to say.

"You won't BELIEVE what just happened!" Cloud exclaimed happily, putting a hand on Zidane's tensed shoulders and noticing it quickly enough. Temporarily kicking his joy aside, he frowned. "What's wrong? You guys don't seem to be all right."

Squall, being more environment observant, had taken note of the newcomer in hoods and capes from a distance. "Who is he?" He pointed at the masked guy and asked Kuja.

Kuja only smiled bitterly and crossed his arms across his chest. "The cause of our discomfort?" He questioningly replied, as if trying to comfort himself. "Why don't you ask Mr. Mystery Man himself? Maybe he'd be more willing to give you a reply."

"Well," Mr. Mystery Man himself raised his hands and shrugged indifferently, "you really don't have to be afraid of me, since I'm not going to do anything to you at all."

"Oh," Kuja snorted, years of being skeptical and discreet taking over his inclination to want to believe, "and the next thing you're going to tell us is that you're here to help us, no?"

The man snapped his fingers and pointed. "Bingo!" He said. As soon as he said that, he dug around in his cloak and came up with a leather map as tattered and torn as his cape was. He then flung it towards the nearest person, who happened to be Squall.

"What's this?" Squall immediately asked, while busily unfolding the parchment to take a better look.

"What do you think it is?" The man asked in slight irritation. "It's a map, you dorks." He proceeded to point somewhere at the vast blue west. "If you follow this path, maybe... just maybe... you will reach there in 3 days... just in time..."

He turned towards the gang again, smiling. This time, it wasn't merely Kuja alone, but everybody else who noticed the glowing blue eyes behind the hood. Before the questions formed, however, the man spun around and walked across the water towards an unknown destination.

"May the Lunar Cry guide you to Terra..."

Perhaps, it was the way he walked across the water, causing gentle ripples to spread out from where his feet did not touch. Or maybe it was the way the long cape flaired out from behind him. Whatever it was, all four were dumbfounded until the stranger was finally a speck in the watery horizon of the planet. Squall was the first to move, shaking his head and looking down at the map in his hands.

"That man... he had eyes... like yours, Cloud!" Zidane suddenly whipped around and pointed at the semi-exasperated Cloud.

"I'm not surprised, seeing how there were practically an entire army of those people in my times." Cloud blinked and walked over to where Squall was instead. "So, what does the thing say?"

"It's a normal map," Squall pointed, "but it's got a hand-written trail of some sort that's supposed to guide us to some place... here." He landed his finger on the big red 'X' marked somewhere towards the left side of the map. Everybody had, by this time, gathered around and was glancing from behind Squall's shoulders. The SeeD dusted the bottom right corner of the map, squinting as he did. "There's a signature here." He peered closer. "Ip... sen... Ipsen!"

"Ipsen..." Kuja whispered. He looked in the direction the stranger was last seen walking in. "So that man... was Ipsen..."

"Pardon me for saying this, but that guy seem to know who we are and what we're doing." Zidane was turning his head in all directions to catch everybody's glance. "Aren't you guys the least bit surprised at all?"

His reply was 3 people staring at him with half-lidded eyes.

"Oh, by the way." Kuja immediately turned back to look at Cloud. "There was something you guys wanted to tell us wasn't there? Before the little distraction by the strange guy..."

"Hmmm? Oh oh, yeah!" Cloud snapped his fingers. "While we were walking around looking for ways to escape, we discovered something."

Kuja raised an eyebrow.

"We could walk on water."

Silence.

"WHAT?!?!?!"

"Woah, woah!" Cloud backed away hurriedly, only stopping when he bumped into Squall, who was still intently examining the map. "Let me finish, okay? What I meant was, wherever we walked, the water would separate from us, and we'd be walking on dry land instead of wading in water... kindda weird, but it's true." Cloud shrugged. "I'm pretty sure you and Zidane'd probably be able to do it, too."

Squall's head suddenly snapped up from the map, knocking Cloud, who was behind him, to the ground. He turned around, oblivious to what he had just did and excitedly said, "What're we waiting for? Come on, let's go already!"

"Go..." Cloud managed to sit up with the help of Zidane and Kuja. "... go where?"

"Here!" Squall jabbed his index finger at the big 'X' in the map he had been holding. "We gotta reach there before the Lunar Cry begins, or we'll lose our chance of ever going to..."

"HOLD IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

It was Kuja.

Everybody froze.

Kuja slithered dangerously close to Squall.

"Lunar Cry. Explanation. NOW."

Squall's gulp could be heard.

"O-Okay..." He moved away from Kuja quickly.

"You may not know this, but monsters are foreign to the planet I live in. Which I assume is called 'Terra' by the people later. How the monsters came to Terra, is actually because of the 'Lunar Cry'.

"The first documented Lunar Cry happened a few centuries before my time, when the gravitational force between Terra and Terra's moon... Gaia, I suppose, was at it's strongest. This pull caused practically all the monsters on the moon to gather at one point and together they dropped down onto Terra. The Cry destroyed an entire continent and introduced monsters into Terra. Additionally, it led to the Sorceress War, which further progressed into many other things and finally, time compression, the main cause of why we are in this place, here and now."

He paused to breath.

"Assuming we are truly on Gaia, Terra's moon, and the Lunar Cry is, according to some information in this parchment, going to happen in roughly 3 days..." He maintained eye contact with as many of the other 3 as he could. "... don't you think it's an excellent opportunity for us to 'drop' onto Terra along with the monsters that will?"

Squall waited for the information to sink in and the questions to form. As he had expected, Kuja was the first to speak out.

"That's, fine and all." He managed to keep his expressions fairly intelligent, while his mind scrambled to assemble the facts quickly. "But have you noticed? We haven't seen a single monster within 100 kilometres circumference of our standpoint. If the Lunar Cry is really going to happen in 3 days... where are all it's participants? It really doesn't seem entirely normal to me."

"Maybe all the monsters are now under-water." Zidane suggested. "If they're not on land, that's the only other place besides in the skies where they could be, isn't it?"

Everybody was visibly startled at this additional fact. Why hadn't they thought of that?? Recovery was quick, however. Cloud had already begun walking away from the rest of them.

"What's the matter, Cloud?" Squall hurried along. He thrust the map to Cloud. "You'd better take this, I think you're better with the geography of this planet than I am."

Cloud accepted the map, but then shook his head and waved his hands about. "Okay, you guys are all giving me a headache. And if I don't find somewhere to sit down soon, the next monster I see is really gonna get it."

The moving off of one person inadvertably forced all of the rest to mobilize as well. To their surprise and slight horror, Zidane and Kuja discovered that what Cloud and Squall had said was true. They *COULD* walk on water. Well, the water separated from them wherever they stepped, that is, and they would be walking on land instead of wading through water.

It was as if the water was reacting to them.

Or maybe somebody was making the water react to them.

Whatever it was, with Cloud's help, by evening time they had walked all the way to the big 'X' marked on the Ipsen map and were resting, fishing and waiting for monsters to appear. The sheer lack of even the most simple of foes began to grate on everybody's nerves. Still, nobody doubted Squall's explanation and experience. The Lunar Cry HAD to be happening. Something, however, was just not right.

Cloud finished his evening patrol when the sun set and still not a monster was in sight over all the four corners of the horizon. Upon walking back to the campfire Squall and Zidane had started for the night, he noticed Kuja playing around with some of his attack materia with unbridled fascination and attention. He circled the ex-villian and found a place to sit down beside Zidane, who was barbequing some fish he had caught.

"What's so interesting with the green thing?" The question came, not from Cloud, but Squall. "Oh sorry, I think it's called materia, right?" He sheepishly hid his face for a while.

"Well, you can call it concentrated Mako if you wanted," Cloud shrugged, "it's just a catalyst for us to cast magic by."

"What's Mako made up of?" Kuja suddenly asked, though his eyes were still fixed on the green orbs.

"I don't know if you're gonna understand this," Cloud blinked, "but, Mako is essentially refined Lifestream."

To his and everybody else's surprise, Kuja frowned, then nodded, as if he had understood everything that had just been said. Wasn't he always the one who insisted on knowing everything and anything? His silence was almost ominous to the audience. "Lifestream, in short, is the fuel the planet and people depend on for life, isn't it?" Kuja asked.

"..." went Cloud. "... yeah, you could say that."

This answer caused the silver-haired man to breath in really loudly, as if in discovery of something unconditionally great. He stood up.

"Do you... mind if I burn it up?"

The world stopped.

"Huh?" Cloud asked, feeling abnormally absymal.

"Burn. It. Up." Kuja repeated. "You know, use fire, scorch it, smoke rises, the thing disappears... ?"

"I get the drift about burning," Cloud scratched his head, "but I don't get the point. Why'd you wanna burn it up for?"

"Nevermind the point, just tell me whether or not I'm allowed to." Kuja pouted. For about half a minute, Cloud became silent and thoughtful. Probably renewing his opinion about Kuja in his freak directory, but with that perpetually spastic look on his face, it was really hard to tell. Nevertheless, he soon began digging around his inventory and threw Kuja 3 blue materia instead.

"They're blue, but they're made up of Mako too." Cloud nodded when he saw Kuja peer at them with perplexity. "If there's something you HAVE to burn, you'd best be burning those. Those are just low-level All materias."

Finding himself unable to refute whatever Cloud had just said (due to dire lack of knowledge), Kuja shrugged and turned around. With his back against the rest, and the setting sun giving his silouette a soft, reddish-orange glow, Kuja was really a sight to behold. In some ways, he felt unapproachable, but in many other ways he was entirely approachable. Cloud knew it wasn't right to judge someone by the air that surrounded them alone. Otherwise, he and Vincent wouldn't have hit it off so well, would they? Nevermind Vincent was really weirder than he seemed... By the time he focused back to real life, Kuja had already levitated the 3 support materia to waist level. Because he was back-facing the gang, they couldn't see what exactly he was doing. That is, until Flare Star struck the pitiful materia and toasted them into nothingness.

Zidane's mouth was wide-opened when Flare Star appeared. He obviously wasn't very agreeable with sudden displays of powerful magic.

White smoke arose from where the materia used to float. For some strange reason, they didn't dissipate like smoke usually would. They wouldn't float up into the skies, either, merely staying at the low altitude, making them appear more like mist than smoke. They saw Kuja thrust his hand into the smoke, with a spell ready in his hands. As all of them watched on, the white smoke slowly formed the shape of bug-like creature Squall usually saw around Balamb. The shape quickly disappeared, though, when Kuja pulled his hand away. He turned around.

"You were creating monsters!" Squall quickly commented. He paused. "Weren't you?"

"Oh well, that's a crude way to put it, but yeah, I was." Kuja swept a sleeve and settled down quietly beside Zidane. "I was just... testing something out."

Squall turned to look at the white smoke still hanging around. "That?"

"Hmm hmm." Kuja hummed, almost with joy. "There's no doubt about it. Refining refined Mako, which is refined Lifestream, produces Mist. Which can be used to produce pretty darn powerful monsters, by the way." He took a stick of fish Zidane had stuck near the fire and sniffed. "Zidane, the fish is overcooked!" He moaned, which resulted in an immediately flurry as there was a mad dash for the fish.

When everybody had finished collecting dinner, Kuja was once again the focus of attention.

"Why did you suddenly want to test the materia out?" Squall began, chomping rudely on the food. As an observant SeeD, he had long guessed the silver-haired man had doubts and questions about the orbs, but he didn't know why he brought the issue up only now.

Kuja laughed. "Boredom?" He joked. Then, in a more serious tone, he continued, "And it just further confirms that we *ARE* in Gaia. Mist doesn't appear in Terra, no matter how much we burn the blue there." He blinked. "Besides... we might... need the skill, eventually..."

Unable to hear the last sentence clearly, the rest refrained from commenting.

"In any case," Cloud rose from his seated position, "shall we turn in for the night? We'd need at least a lookout, though; since it's monsters we're out in the open waiting for, here." He looked around. "Any volunteers?"

Silence. All eyes were fixed on the asker.

"Okay, wrong question to ask." Cloud sighed. "But at least take turns? I don't wanna be fighting monsters half-asleep tomorrow."

Squall nodded immediately, before turning to look at the other two. Zidane shrugged, indicating his neutrality in all of this. Kuja merely said, "I demand to have the last shift," before quietly disappearing into the darkness. The blond mercenary grinned and waved his hands at Squall, indicating that he would wake him up at the 2nd shift. The other two then shuffled out of the scene.

Left to his own devices, Cloud sat down thoughtfully and replayed the events of the day in his head.

Unwittingly, he had already pulled out the map and was staring at it with immense intensity.

Something felt right. Something felt wrong. He couldn't put a finger to it.

He folded the map up and sighed.

"Waiting for monsters to gather and drop onto another planet, eh?" He turned to look up at the red moon.

It was going to be a long night.

 

\-------------------------------  
tsuki no namida datta  
13/6/2001


	11. Chapter 11

Standard disclaimers apply.

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
sagasu

 

They woke up.

They had breakfast.

They fished.

They had lunch.

They fished.

They had dinner.

Zidane started acting weirdly (claiming all the fish was making him woozy).

Kuja didn't buy it (and knocked the monkey out before he could protest).

Cloud sweatdropped.

Squall fished.

They started a fire.

They were silent.

"...................................."

"What, Squall. You gotta speak up, coz I can't read minds." Cloud was visibly irritated. One entire day of boredom. Perpetuated by bad scenary. Boy, was his mood rotten or was his mood rotten.

Squall raised a gloved hand. "Where are the monsters?" He wondered aloud. "One or two should at least be here by now. The silence is scaring me."

To this, Cloud folded his arms and closed his eyes. "I know. I'm trying to figure that out, too."

From a distance, Kuja could be heard walking towards them. He had a weird glow in his eye when they could see him.

"Let's go." He said tersely, turning to another direction.

"Go?" Cloud raised an eyebrow. He stood up, followed by Squall. Zidane was beginning to show signs of recovery after that blow in the evening and was already sitting up, holding his head. "Where?"

"Find the monsters, where else?" Kuja said, his back against them. "We're not going to be able to progress, you do realize, until monsters come and help us drop to Terra." He said, now back at where the Mist were. Surprisingly, the Mist hadn't disappeared from since their appearance last night. They hung around heavily, like permanent fog. Kuja had already began chanting a spell.

Zidane stood up and asked for water. Cloud rummaged around the inventory and found a hi-potion. They continued to observe the ex-villian perform his deeds. Scan magic shot out from his hands and mixed around nicely with the thick Mist. A small phoenix-like creature soon materialized and perched on Kuja's hand obediently, squealing uncomfortably.

"Scan magic plus Mist..." Cloud stroked his chin. "... lemme guess, we're going to use that monste... er, creature to find the monsters?"

Kuja turned around and nodded.

"Yeah, yeah... should've guessed..." Cloud held his forehead with his hand for a while. "... ARE YOU KIDDING??" He suddenly asked. "How many monsters do you think there are in the world? If we *do* start finding them now, how many do you think we can find? It's not like monsters hang out in a group and are having their annual general meeting now, you know."

Everybody remained silent.

"But Cloud," Zidane spoke up, having recovered from the knock in the head and was now beside the blond mercenary, "I suppose it might sound bizarre if I say this, but... from since we walked here from Midgar, not a single monster has been seen... don't you find it weird? It can't be that all of them are hibernating, could it?

"Have you... ever thought if it's possible that all of them have been captured and locked up... somewhere... ?"

The thief then quickly shook his head and hands. "It's bizarre, I know, but it also is a possibility... Monsters are rather resilient and have really hard lifes. If the Lunar Cry is an important event programmed into their instincts, what would stop them from carrying it out? I can think of no other reason than the possibility of them being rendered immobile, most likely behind bars..."

"It's far-fetched," Squall agreed, "but still possible."

"So what're we waiting for?" Kuja's irritated voice began to prob. "Let's find this out before tomorrow, so we can at least do something about it. I don't want to miss our only chance to travel to Terra in centuries."

Before anybody could reply, Kuja had already sauntered off in his slow and steady pace. They only had time to briefly glance at each other.

And everything else was history.

\-------------------------------

The creature took them only a few minutes north, before coming to rest atop a small hill jutting out of the waters. The four of them circled the hill, causing the water to completely recede from the large stump of soil. It wasn't a very tall hill, considering how it towered over them more than loomed over them. Kuja poked the hill, then turned to look at Cloud.

Noticing that soon, everybody had turned to look at him, Cloud shook his head and backed a few steps. "What?? What is it?"

"What place is this?" Squall asked. Then, more specifically, he continued, "I mean, what place in geography, that is."

The spikey-headed mercenary dipped his head down and thought for a while. "Wutai... I think." He said when his head rose up. "We should be around the Wutai region as of now."

"Why did you bring us here, Kuja?" Zidane wondered aloud to his silver-haired companion, who was busy looking at the creature on his hand with a chagrined expression painted across his features. Zidane cocked his head to a side, unable to guess what in the world Kuja was up to now.

The ex-villian circled the tiny hill in a semi-arc, then traced his way back to where he had started circling the stump. His secrecy got on Squall's nerves to no end, but the young SeeD kept his mouth respectfully shut for fear of death by Flare Star. Just when things were starting to get interesting, they'd seemingly hit another dead end. Great. Squall sighed inwardly, muttering incessantly about having had too much fish.

When Kuja knocked on the hill, Cloud decided that enough was enough. He slowly made his way towards the former and asked, "Excuse me, Kuja, but... have you found ANY monsters with the little creature of yours yet?"

His reply was in the form of a noisy sound. Kuja spun around.

"Hey guys, would you believe it? This thing is hollow!" Zidane was the one who spoke up instead of Kuja. The silver-haired man was irritated to no end, obviously at the for young thief snatching away his words. Cloud merely calmed himself down and strolled over to where Squall and Zidane were knelt. When all were gathered, Zidane demostrated his previous claim by banging on a part of the hill. True to his words, an empty, hollow sound echoed forth from within the hill-like structure.

"I don't know how much of this is plausible," Kuja stroked his chin lightly, with the silly creature still perched on his other hand, "but from how the creature has been behaving since bringing us here, I'd say there's a mighty lot of chance there are some... no, make that, ALOT of monsters underground... from which, this hill thing here, could be the entrance..."

"What, a secret tunnel?" Cloud was half-amused. "What would monsters be doing, hiding in a place like that?"

"Oh, that's hard to say." Kuja shrugged. "There's more a high chance of them being captured than hiding, I'd really say. Monsters aren't known to be instinctively afraid of anything, are they? Besides, the Lunar Cry is tomorrow... why would, why SHOULD they hide away?"

A loud sound disturbed their discussion, followed by volumes of smoke and soil.

"Woah." Squall's voice came next. "I think I found the entrance, guys."

Everybody else sweatdropped.

"In any case," Kuja was the first to stand up. "I think our schedule for the night has just been confirmed."

\-------------------------------

The inside of the hill was a long, winding tunnel, lit on both sides of the walls with a fire torch every 100 steps or so. Cloud volunteered to lead them, since he could see better in the dark than most of them could, even without the torches. Squall volunteered to bring up the rear, for lack of a better thing to do, or so he claimed. They stayed tight as a group and kept a lookout for exits from the tunnel in case they should miss it in the darkness.

"Is it just me, or is this tunnel going downwards?" Zidane whispered, as softly as he could while staying audible. Kuja turned around and grinned.

"It's not just you, Zidane."

"Dang. I thought so." The monkey swung his tail more vigorously from side to side; not that anybody could notice in the dark anyway. "This is definitely eerie. The sooner we get out, the better."

"Eerie? I'd say this is an irritating maze." Squall's voice came from behind all of them, with his usual careless tone. "But I do agree. The sooner we get out, the better. I'm getting tired of swatting bugs out of my face."

Cloud was heard laughing. But otherwise, all was quiet.

"Is that a light up there?" Zidane was heard again, after a long, uncomfortable silence had settled over.

Everybody strained to see further ahead. True enough, there was a light unlike the fire torches pouring into the tunnel from a entrance-like hole nearing 50 steps away. Cloud slowed down and signalled for everybody to do the same. They began to endear themselves to the tunnel walls as closely as possible, all the time trying to pick up bits and pieces of the conversation that was happening within the room.

It was a well-engineered room, which had several doors probably leading to other rooms of similar origins. From where they stood, they could make out a plump, middle-aged man bringing a beverage of some sort to a small, round table situated in the middle of the room. A man with a long, sweeping, torn and tattered cape sat there.

"It is rare that we get visitors, I must admit..." the older man spoke first, playing with the right end of his moustache, after he had settled the cup on the table, "... so please don't mind me for being to the point. What may the purpose of this visit perhaps be? From whence do you bring tidings?"

The stranger finished the drink he was brought quickly enough, standing up as soon as he placed the cup back down. With a funny little smile that was visible even with his hood, he said, "I do not bring good tidings," startling the other man with his words, "I am here to request that you release all the monsters you have caged."

Outside, the four eavesdroppers exchanged knowing looks. So monsters *were* being captured and locked up, ridiculous as it may have seemed.

The older man in the room took a few steps back in disbelief, pointing an accusing finger at the caped man. "That's ridiculous! Why would anyone want anything like that to happen? Have you any idea how long it took us to restrain those beasts?! Releasing them now will not only cause distress amongst the-"

"Yeah yeah! I get the point already!" The caped man impatiently whipped around and held a firm hand up to stop the meaningless chatter. "One question at a time, okay?" He waited for a while before continuing, "But since you can't seem to get your enquiries in place, I think I will proceed with my interrogation instead."

He advanced, danger spreading out from his steps. A large, metallic sword appeared suddenly from beneath the long cape when the man threw half of it open. As if in demonstration of his ease in using the large weapon, the man effortlessly held it out, so that the tip of the blade went near the other man, who stood a few feet away in shock and terror.

Cloud's eyes widened at seeing the Buster Sword in another person's possession. His mind quickly went into overtime. SOLDIERs carried swords that size, but it was to his remembrance that only Zack held the Buster Sword, which he later inherited. The sword wasn't currently in his inventory, and come to think of it, he didn't see it at the Chocobo Sage's house when they set off either. Did someone steal it? Did someone pick it up? It wasn't possible to lose such a big sword, though, so how... ?

Breaking him out of his thoughts was the voice of the stranger, recognized by the four of them as none other than Mr. Ipsen, walk-on-water-and-will-not-sink himself. He spoke, saying, "My questions for you are very simple. Why is the underwater community so hell-bent on keeping the monsters immobile? It is to my knowledge that there are lesser monsters underwater than those on land and above ground. Why does the underwater community want to keep so many monsters underground if truly the peace of the community is at stake here?"

The brooding teenager we know as Squall frowned deeply. His expert judgment told him something was wrong... or rather, something was *right* about this Ipsen. He couldn't explain it just yet, but maybe the answer would show itself to him soon. He continued observing the happenings quietly.

"Hah!" The older man shrieked, trying to stay brave despite trembling like a leaf. "What do YOU understand?! If the monsters... if they DROP down to that who-knows-what planet again... it'll... it'll be the end of all of us! Our water, our livelihood... they'll all drop down together with those cursed things!! This time... this time... there won't be enough people left to put the pieces back together! No, there won't EVEN be people left at all!!" The tone of his voice screamed to the world that he was in a desperate attempt to justify himself and his community's decision. The stranger stayed silent for a while more.

"You're lying." He said calmly, after the other man had managed to calm his breathing.

"I'm not!" The man made an action resembling that of pretentious hair-tearing. "Why else would we want to have those cursed beasts in our territory?!"

His voice was cut short by the sudden stabbing of the large Buster Sword into the wall beside his head. If his eyes got any wider, it would definitely have dropped out.

Outside, the four of them exchanged looks again, wondering if it was necessary to interfere.

"Monster tournament... I believe that's what you and your people called it." His cold voice generated an interesting response from the other man in a series of snorts and mini protests. "When a community stays isolated in peace, events are needed to satisfy the void that keeps them dull and uninteresting. Some of the events eventually thought up of reflect wise judgment and good consideration; but others..." Ipsen's frown could be heard, "show that there's nothing more than uncaring peeps underneath those gentlemanly hides of yours...

"You are going to make the monsters fight against one another, aren't you?" He demanded an answer that was aleady known before the question was said. "To satisfy your so-called need for entertainment, an indefinite greed for money... money you won't even be able to spend... things you won't even be able to use... !!" Ipsen finally grabbed the hilt of his sword and removed it from the wall, laughing angrily. "Are you sure you've got ALL the monsters in the cages already? Haven't you missed out one... ?"

"What do you mean!" The man was by now, enraged. Ipsen merely threw his sword backwards against his shoulder and stood in a pose that was intrinsically Cloud. Zidane tugged at Kuja's sleeve, as if to indicate his desire to interfere. Before Kuja could reply, the doors in the room burst open to reveal armed men, obviously already in ambush since the beginning of the conversation. Instinctively the four of them ducked closer towards the wall, not wishing to be caught between a rock and a hard place. They could spot the mysterious smile on Ipsen, once again.

"Get the intruder!" The plump man with a moustache pointed. "He wants to release the monster so they can terrorize the community!!"

The throng of people closed in on Ipsen. It was now that the foursome outside actually realized how spacious the room really was.

Seemingly entirely unaffected by the surge of people, and the fact that he was grossly outnumbered, Ipsen merely swung the large sword in an arc, in the event scaring anybody who was intending to strike him at close range. With unbelievable strength and speed, he dove into the throngs and began cutting down the startled people one by one.

Chaos immediately ensued. Commands were shouted above the heavy breathing of soldiers out for blood and revenge of fallen comrades. More and more kept pouring in from the doors, making all of the four wonder just what were they keeping inside those rooms. Surprisingly - or maybe not, Cloud was the first to move.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kuja calmly stopped the mercenary and questioned. Cloud turned around, complexity all over his features. With Kuja, he had a brief, silent conversation, which ended with the silver-haired man nodding, smiling and waving his hand in a cheery fashion. "Count me in, then." Kuja began his slow trudge to the room as well. "I need to let off some steam too..."

Squall and Zidane sweatdropped in the background. Shrugging, Squall followed in the footsteps of the previous two, who had already dived into fray and was nowhere to be seen. Zidane shouted, "YOU'RE going too??!"

"............... why not?" Squall turned around and smiled slightly. "Ipsen wants to release the monsters; so do we. If we work together, we'll most probably get things done faster. As for questions..." The SeeD stroked his chin gently and frowned. Quickly, however, he looked right back up.

"... Whatever." The dark teenager grinned stupidly. He disappeared into the light and chaos of the room.

Zidane slapped his forehead and groaned in disbelief. Trying out some breathing exercises, he soon found himself calmed down enough to think properly.

*Fighting with no purpose... journeying without a destination... hadn't I sworn against doing those things already?* He was greatly bothered, ruffling through his own hair in confusion. *It -IS- at times like these that I wished I could be as one-track-minded as Cloud... or as 'Whatever' as Squall... maybe even as understanding as Kuja...* He sighed, lazily lifting his Orihalcon from their sheaths.

"Oh, what the heck!!!" He shook his head, and without warning dashed into the room to take on the first person he decided was an enemy.

Nobody noticed the man with the moustache disappear into a small door at the extreme right of the room.

 

\-------------------------------  
sagashita  
12/7/2001


	12. Chapter 12

Standard disclaimers apply.

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
ochiru

 

"ARGH!! DAMMIT!!! Just how many of them are there anyway?!" Zidane screeched in sheer agony, having rendered enough people unconscious to be able to write a bestseller. "Do they have like, millions of reinforcements waiting in those stupid rooms or something?"

".................." went Squall, who managed to clear away enough people to be fighting alongside the monkey boy. "....... there IS a difference in number. The people are starting to retreat back into the rooms they came from."

"Well, good!!" Zidane scoffed, managing to catch his breath while truly appreciating the point of Squall's statement. The people stopped suddenly and were making a mad rush for the doors they came in from, grabbing as many fallen comrades as they could manage. "There wasn't enough space on the floor to contain all of them, anyway."

With the receding crowd, Squall and Zidane soon caught a glimpse of their other comrades, all equally perplexed at the sudden shift of strategy on the part of the enemy. They caught sight of each other and ran to converge in the middle of the room, Ipsen slowly walking from behind.

"No, don't ask me!" Kuja held a hand out immediately when he was in hearing range. "I do NOT know what's going on, and am not going to find out either. Let's just go find the monsters and let them all out or something, okay?"

"Don't worry about finding the monsters," Ipsen shrugged, "you'll probably be more interested in how to get them back onto the surface instead."

"OOooh! I can't take this anymore!" Kuja stomped on his right foot and stormed up to the still-caped Ipsen. "You know, I'm a big fan of your plays and everything, but would you stop acting like you know us inside out?! It's creeping, bothering, annoying and frustrating me to no end!" He reached out during his banter and grabbed a loose fold of the hood, yanking tightly. "Just who do you think you are anyway?!"

The hood fell in slow-motion.

Kuja withdrew his hand sharply and let his jaw drop, as unfitting as it was for a man his grace. No sound managed to escape his lips.

He pointed.

Zidane pointed.

Squall pointed.

"......... !!!!"

Was all they managed to eke.

Cloud was, surprisingly, the one who stood through this whole pointing session with his arms folded and gaze cool.

Ipsen had sharp, blond, spikey hair. Ipsen had glowing, blue, Mako eyes. Ipsen had a big, bad, Buster Sword. Ipsen had a nice, silly, moronic smile.

Heck. Ipsen looked exactly like Cloud Strife.

"You know, I have no time or interest to explain things to you guys," 'Ipsen' put a finger to his lips and grinned, "but trust me on this, the way you'd trust Cloud." He jerked a thumb towards the still quiet Cloud for emphasis. "I'm here to help. I'll open up the way for you guys."

While the other 3 still had their fingers trained on him, and their jaws on the floor, Ipsen re-hooded himself, leapt into the air, and promptly disappeared. Cloud took a huge breath in, calmed himself down, and proceeded to his three fossilized companions.

He waited for about 5 seconds.

"If you don't snap out of it, I'm gonna cast Sudden Death on all of you..." He gently said, blowing at his fingernails while he was at it. It worked to a certain extent. They snapped out of their pose and shifted their fingers to be pointing at him instead.

"Cloud!" Squall was the first to say.

"You..." Zidane managed to continue.

"..." went Kuja, for a while, "... reproduce asexually, right?" before he dug up the most logical explanation he had for the appearance of 2 Clouds at the same time before him.

For that, they all got the Evil Eye and the Glowing Materia treatment.

"I'm going to cast Sudden Death." Cloud glared.

"AAAH!!" The rest promptly screamed when they realized the materia was beginning to glow. Frantic running around in all directions followed soon after.

Before Cloud could lift the materia into the air and cast the spell he so wanted to, however, the ground rocked and trembled with a mechanic sound, knocking them all onto their hands and knees. Recovery was quick, and soon everybody stood and was astounded.

The rumbling of the floor became a mere background. Ceilings and walls thought to have been sheer brick and concrete slowly slid away to reveal a new type of wall of sorts. It was translucent, and rose slowly to engulf the group of four in a cone-like prism prison. The only things which remained unchanged were the doors, holding still in their position while everything else rebuilt themselves around them. Looking over their shoulders, they caught a glimpse of the moustache man who had disappeared earlier, stroking the tails of his moustache with ferocity, staring at them through the solid glass barrier.

"Don't know what's going on, but I've got a really bad feeling about this..." Cloud kept his Death materia and fished out some other more potent offensive materia instead.

Bright lights shone down on them from above. Squall raised a hand to block out the glare.

"I'd say your feeling is probably right." The dark teenager got used to the light quickly and positioned his hand over the hilt of the Lion Heart. Zidane and Kuja respectively got their daggers and spells ready.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" The loud, static voice of the moustached man went out to people who were supposedly there but invisible from the foursome's viewpoint. "We regret the sudden summon, and apologize for inconveniences! HOWEVER! Tonight's show is a show that must not be missed! It is-"

"What the heck is going on?!" Zidane shouted over the voice, waving the Orihalcon at the man through the glass but apparently not generating a satisfiable reaction. Kuja was at the glass barrier, examining it for plausible solutions to their situation.

Cloud walked up to him. "Well?"

"Strong stuff, enhanced with anti-magic barriers." Kuja stood up and took a few steps back. Zidane was still yelling assorted obscenities and demands at the man, while Squall had more or less lost interest and was currently trying to brood. "Stand back." He waved a hand at Cloud.

Flare exploded into action at once, ramming into the glass barrier repeatedly, in hope of at least a dent or crack. After many trials, Kuja realized that nothing was happening and ceased his attacks, semi-appalled by how pointless it had all been. It was at this point of time that both he and Cloud noticed that the rumbling of the ground had restarted.

"Watch! As the powerful mages battle the detestable monsters in a fight to death!!" Was the last thing they heard over the rumbling before the doors flung open to introduce an entire cohort of newcomers - this time nowhere near human.

Everybody retreated instinctively. "The monsters!!" Zidane gasped, swatting away a daring bug who had made it's way over in a flash. "Dammit, what's this? Gladiator's arena or something?"

A Nibel Wolf leapt high into the air and had his fangs aimed at Zidane, the latter quickly readying himself for a quick counter. However, a strong sound and the sudden release of a lot of wind magic caused the monsters to be thrown about the room like broken rag dolls. Zidane turned around to catch what he would term as Kuja in half-trance mode. Oh boy. Better run.

An aura of imminent death surrounded the deathly calm Kuja. He had 'I am so angry' written all over his empty looking face. With raised hands he called upon an exceedingly enhanced Flare Star to strike and burn all the monsters - already down due to the earlier wind spell - into smoke and smithereens.

From outside their little glass world, tremendous cheering and clapping was heard.

"Those people must be bored out of their minds!" Zidane's knuckles turned white, grasping just a little too hard on the daggers. "What's so fun about watching living things die?!"

The doors opened again to release new monsters, starved for days and nights in their cages, dashing madly towards what they thought was prey. Kuja's eyes began to flash by that time, and while Cloud and Squall took down the new batch of monsters, Zidane spent most of his time turning back to inspect the silver-haired man worriedly.

He remembered what Kuja said about the monsters, and his ability to create them.

Perhaps, in some ways, he could empathize with these creatures? Perhaps, in other ways, he saw them as strays; undeserved of such treatment? Was he angry? At who? At what? The monkey turned more serious than he had ever been since the journey. Kuja had already began chanting another spell.

As if on cue, Cloud and Squall finished the last of their turns with the beasts and leapt backwards to join their companions. At the very same time, Firaga surged forward and licked gleefully at the edges of the strong, metallic doors; the even stronger flames melding them together with the walls and floor.

From the corner of his eye, Zidane noticed the moustached man slam his palms against his announcement table and look upon the scene with disbelief. Now that the floor and doors were melted, no amount of machinery would be able to lift them for an incoming stream of monsters. Slight relief washed over him. He had considered about eventually having to fight every single monster there was in Gaia, and the thought hadn't appealed at all.

The man was now trembling and sweating.

Quickly glancing behind, Zidane saw the reason why.

I mean, if you had a semi-tranced Kuja looking at you like you were Garland, wouldn't you tremble and sweat?

"Kuja, let's just get the monsters out." Cloud shook his head, knowing, just like everybody else, what Kuja would do next if otherwise. "We've played around long enough. The Lunar Cry isn't going to be able to happen until we get all of them to the surface."

Closing his eyes and looking away, Kuja remained silent.

"Heh... heheh... !" The irritating voice of the irritating man from outside the little prison blared over from somewhere. "It's useless, I tell ya! The glass is anti-magic, and attack-proof! Not even a behemoth could run through it without getting half it's neck twisted! I'm telling you, there's no way you can-"

"Aw man! Stop it already, okay?!" The unmistakable 'Ipsen's voice took over the system. "I hate cliche villians!" The voice continued, after someone was heard being knocked unconscious. "Okay, people, don't believe in whatever nonsense this fella just rambled about. Break that stupid glass barrier thing down, go through one of the doors, grab whatever's moving and enjoy the ride of your life!" The hooded 'Ipsen' then feigned a salute, "We won't meet again," turned around, and disappeared from wherever he had come in from in the first place.

"'Break that stupid glass barrier' he says..." Zidane was already stabbing at the glass with all his might, "... I wish he'd make it as easy as it sounded!"

"It IS anti-magic and anti-attack," Kuja suddenly appeared beside him, making him jump out of his skin, "but if we should attack it from the outside..."

Although he was relieved to see Kuja back to his normal self, instead of semi-transfigurating with a reddish glow, Zidane wasn't sure if he was safe to be near still. He slowly edged away.

"A summon?" Squall suggested.

"We might risk the summon hitting us as well, though." Kuja sighed. "I think I have a better idea. Let me weaken this thing enough for a strong physical attack to bring it down." And without a break or a breath, he began chanting for Ultima. Cloud and Squall turned to look at one another blankly.

Over the system, voices of evacuating people could still be heard. Zidane didn't know whether to pity them or to feel sorry. A quick check with his instincts told him that time had not been kind, for the many hours spent in this underground colosseum was probably all they had to bring the monsters back to the surface in time for the Lunar Cry. 'Ipsen's instructions, although straightforward and pretty much easy to follow, had been bizarre and almost incomprehendable - considering the situation they were in.

Therefore, as Ultima passed through the magic field and slammed into the barrier from outside, Zidane could only hope that 'Ipsen' was really on their side and meant more help than harm. For when he, Cloud and Squall each struck the glass barrier in their own move, the ceiling tumbled in on them, revealing the glaring light from the sun, and monsters of every shape and size vaulted over the concrete in a mad rush for the surface they were supposed to be on.

"Woah!" Zidane slipped and almost fell, had he not grabbed onto the tail of a Torama. "WOAH!" He continued to exclaim, when the Torama leapt and bounded out of the now stuffy and semi-buried underground chamber with vitality and energy. He was soon out of sight.

"Zidane!" Kuja swept unsuccessfully at the smoke that had come in along with the soil. His free hand found the horns of an unfortunate Ruby Dragon, who was in the process of flying out. Kuja saddled the beast with ease and experience, and before long he, too, disappeared from sight.

Cloud and Squall both went ".................................".

The spikey-headed mercenary turned to his companion. "We're going to your world, right?" He asked good-naturedly.

"Yeah." Squall answered, though unsure of what Cloud really meant.

"When we get there, you have got to show me around that mercenary school of yours... Balamb Garden, right?" He laughed, surprisingly calm for someone surrounded by so many frantic monsters rushing for the surface.

"Sure thing." Squall agreed almost immediately, for some reason or another.

They looked at one another blankly.

"See you there, then!" Cloud finally looked away and ran forward, leaping over the hill that was created when the soil fell into the chamber, and up into the open air, where Squall could no longer see him.

Spotting a T-Rex storming it's way past him, Squall hesitated for a while before jumping and landing on the rex. For now, the beast had other things on his mind. Squall shook his head, remembering how he used to curse the very existence of the monster. Ironic he had to ride it back to his planet like this, eh?

The rex clambered out of the hole and converged along with it's other comrades on the surface, howling and making a din. Squall tried, but failed to find the other three anywhere near him. The absence of their presence suddenly made him afraid, and empty. Quickly shaking the notion out of his head, he concentrated instead, on how he was going to show Cloud around Balamb Garden when they reached 'Terra'.

That's right. 'When', they reached Terra.

He held his breath when the T-Rex was lifted off the ground and was tossed into the air in a straight path towards the other planet.

Before the atmospheric air thinned, he breathed in really deeply and clung tighter to the rex.

*It's gonna be okay... It's gonna be okay...*

\-------------------------------

... and thus, the moon began to cry... it cried tears that told tales of horror and pain... tears that would mark it's receiver as scarred and cursed forever...

 

\-------------------------------  
ochita  
22/7/2001


	13. Chapter 13

Standard disclaimers apply.

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
hanareru

 

He jolted into awareness with a dull pain by the side of his right hip. Needless to say, the first thing he saw was the sky. The pale blue, crisp and refreshing, happy and sunny sky.

If his right hip was hurting so much, this had got to be real.

With a bit of pushing, he managed to get himself to sit up against a rock conveniently situated nearby. So he hadn't smashed into the large stone when he came falling down onto the ground. How nice.

"Cloud?" The disorientated teenager backed up against the rough edges of the rock and stood up. "Zidane? Kuja?"

The empty silence in the form of a stoic wind greeted him back.

Cursing, he took a step forward and almost didn't manage to fall over. Yeah, had to do something about that pain in the rib or he'd probably have to resort to crawling soon.

Squall found most of his junctions intact, so he conveniently picked a cure spell and randomly cast it on himself, waiting a while for effect to take place. When he felt confident enough to finally try walking again, his eyes were also focused enough to take in the surroundings, which he had forgotten to do so while dealing with pain previously.

He breathed, and came close to falling to the ground again.

It was a well-sized crater he was sitting in, the center of the deep cut in the ground still smoking away, as if a meteor just hit it; which wasn't exactly untrue, in a weird kind of way. Remains of monsters littered around the gigantic crater, some still twitching away, others twisted and mangled beyond proper classification. All of them were charred and smokey.

The impact must have caused a lot of friction. Fire was still blazing on dried ground in various areas around Squall.

*Most of the monsters must have gotten out of the crater already.* Squall thought to himself as he let his gaze slowly shift upwards. *The amount lying around here doesn't even constitute a small fraction of what I saw drop down... hmm... I wonder how long I've been lying here... how come none of the monsters attacked me when I was out?*

A sound from behind attracted his attention.

"I see Mr. 2-times-Sleeping-Beauty has finally come to." Footsteps became louder and louder. Squall spun around, hand on hilt, just in case the entity was unfriendly. He heard a decidedly familiar laugh. "Calm down, boy. Unless you're trying to tell me G.F.s have taken over memories of me in your mind."

The silver-haired man - all soiled and dusty - emerged into the sunlight from the shadows. He crossed his arms and leaned on one leg.

"Kuja!" Squall exclaimed, almost laughing. How could he ever forget the man who stocked Ultimas like nobody's business? He managed to get over in a jiffy.

The ex-villian only held up a hand. "No questions about dust and dirt! I am SO angry!" He flicked his tresses vainly, in a futile attempt to get stubborn looking brown spots out of them. As he continued grumbling, Squall took the opportunity to re-examine the mangled remains of monsters lying around them; as well as the physically impossible fire which was around anyway.

As if hitting a revelation, he turned back and asked, "These monsters... you-"

"-roasted them, yes." Kuja was still busy preening himself. "Couldn't just let them eat you up, could we." He chuckled.

The dark-haired teenager sweatdropped at how casually Kuja had put it. He continued to brood quietly while Kuja took on various interesting routines to clean himself up - no to avail, of course. Finally, as the sun neared setting, the vain man gave up and sighed, sitting down beside Squall, who had already sat down a long time ago and was still brooding quietly. He got a nudge in his ribcage.

"................. yes?" He asked.

"Are we going to stay here forever?" The incredulous tone in Kuja's voice told him that the answer was already chosen for him before he even heard the question. "I wanna go find a lake somewhere and wash up... or something."

".......... what about Cloud and Zidane?" Squall brought up his doubts after a short pause. Kuja merely snorted.

"Those two monkeys can take care of themselves," he turned away, making Squall unable to view his expressions as he continued, "I hope." Immediately after that, he clapped his hands and stood up, giving the morose and slow teenager a shock. "All right, no more sit-and-brood sessions. The sooner we get out of this place, the sooner I get to clean up." He stared down at the still shocked Squall. "Hurry up, will you?! This is YOUR planet in YOUR time, isn't it? I know *I* have never heard of Lunar Cries in Terra during MY time..."

Climbing slowly to his feet, Squall shook his head, "If Zidane hasn't tried any funny prophesying yet, then yeah, I'd agree it's probably still my time. It really is very hard to tell, isn't it." He almost laughed when he saw Kuja's Death-Glare. Turning around to face the steep walls of the crater, he continued, "How do you propose getting out?"

"Oh, it's no problem for me." Kuja shrugged and effortlessly lifted himself into the air. "No problem for you either, non?"

Squall's face turned blue. "Yeah... sure..." Using Float was never his choice for air travel - you never knew when the spell was going to backfire on you. With a crater so *DEEP*, Squall really didn't feel like challenging the time limits of the awkward spell. But with Kuja Looking at him like that, it was really very hard to explain his difficulties; however sound they appeared.

He prepared to cast Float. And he knew it was going to be a long way out.

\-------------------------------

"Monsters... monsters... and more monsters!!" Zidane whined, turning around to cut down a few more brave ones that had followed him in the upward climb. "I've had enough!! Cloud! Are you going to come back down here to help me or what?!"

He received no answer from the blond mercenary, who stood at an outcrop at the top of the hill Zidane was attempting to scale while beating down random groups of monsters. The sun had aleady begun setting. There must be something really interesting to see up there.

"Why do I always have to be left out of everything?!" Zidane stopped running away from the monsters and spun around to face the cohort that had been hot on his heels. Built up anger and tension from within him released a strange energy throughout his body, causing a strange red glow to emit. Through enlightened eyes and recharged powers, Zidane called upon abilities of the inner darkness to remove the nuisances in front of him. Forbidden texts echoed throughout the vast land, criss-crossing one another to produce strong waves of energy targetted at the now confused and helpless monsters.

Solution 9 rained down hard.

When Zidane regained composure, not one of the monsters stood.

And Cloud was still staring into space at the top of the hill outcrop.

"Cloud!" Zidane stormed quickly towards the mercenary in a rage. "Are you listening to me?! What's so interesting about barren landscape? You know I could have used some help back there with those stupid monsters, if you weren't so caught up in sight-seeing. Hey! Are you listening at all??"

He stopped short just behind his companion, looking over his shoulder to take in the evening scene with frustration coursing through his veins. It was, as mentioned, merely a piece of barren land, all greenery almost gone when the onslaught of monsters came dropping down previously. Zidane vaguely remember letting go of the Torama just before it hit the ground. Everything else was a blur as he tried to avoid the stampede which had immediately followed. It was during the monster stampede that he spotted Cloud up the hill, which he then chose to climb, as did a few other monsters who noticed him.

There really wasn't anything nice about the scene at all. This prompted Zidane to shoot Cloud another impatient look. He had a million things to say, ask, and do, but standing on a hill and watching the sunset passively was not terribly high on that list right now.

As he prepared to open his mouth to say something, Cloud pointed slowly towards an undefined direction somewhere near the setting sun. "Do you see that?" He asked rather tersely, almost whispering.

The monkey stared at the sun. "Yeah, nice sunset." He shrugged indifferently.

"No, no, not the sunset. THAT." He stiffened his arm and pointed again. Zidane frowned and looked again in the direction stated. Still, he saw nothing but the sunset.

"Is this a trick question?" The frustrated thief rolled his eyes. "I ONLY see the sunset, Cloud. I don't have super-sonic glowing blue eyes like yours, in case you've forgotten."

Cloud turned to look at the boy with his standard spastic expression, not saying a word, probably too busy thinking. He blinked, turning back to look at the sunset.

"Well, do you see it now?" He pointed again.

Zidane's entire body slumped. He snapped up quickly enough though, for a rebut, saying, "Cloud, just tell me what is it you see! What's so hard about that? I obviously can't see what you're seeing, and it's probably sub-atomic anyway, so why don't you just tell me! Just. Tell me!"

"I don't know what it is, that's why I'm asking you to see it, duh." Cloud frowned, but still had his gaze fixed on something in the distance. "Let's see... it's small, grey, wobbly, has wheels, and is heading this way."

At that, Zidane turned and peeked closer into the sunset. True to Cloud's words, there was a small, grey, wobbly vehicle-like thing moving their way. It was still very far away, but against the backdrop of a strong, blaring sunset, it soon became painfully obvious that it was the only thing that was seemingly alive around the carnage and wreckage caused by the Lunar Cry.

After a short, mutual silence, Zidane turned to look at his older counterpart. "The answer is, A -- It's a car. What do we do now?"

Cloud breathed deeply and turned his lower lip. "Which is more logical? Jumping off the cliff when the car's nearby to land on it's roof, or walking down the cliff and hope that the car stops for us?"

Zidane's face turned very blue. "If you're thinking of option one, I suggest you do it yourself." He sighed, and began walking down the hill. "I still got lotsa skirts to chase, ya' know."

"I knew you'd say that," the blond mercenary laughed and followed him down the hill, "but we gotta make life a little more interesting sometimes, don't you think?"

The monkey gave the mercenary the closest match to what he had of a disgruntled look. "Hello?!" He began, sarcasm dripping off his voice. "We just dropped down from the moon with about 1 billion other monsters and NOW you're telling me we gotta add MORE spice into our lives??" He grabbed Cloud's hair and started shaking. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!? IS THERE ANYTHING UP THERE AT ALL?!?"

Throughout the whole course of conversation, they had unwittingly made their way down the hill and were standing right in the middle of a hastily cleared road, mostly made with fresh vehicle wheel marks. As Zidane continued shaking Cloud for response, the vehicle they had seen earlier came closer and closer; until it was dangerously close.

It was at this 'dangerously close' distance that Cloud and Zidane both turned around and realized that they were about to become car putty in a matter of split seconds.

And so did the driver.

A loud screech echoed throughout the valley, all the way across the vast, dried plains. From very far away, a cloud of dust was visible in the ridge area near the cliff Cloud and Zidane had stood on. If there were people around, everybody would have been attracted to the area by value of that horrendous sound (you know, fingernails scratching on glass boards?). Fortunately, monsters were mostly tone-deaf; and beautiful music like a vehicle slamming it's emergency throttles at full force in less than a second didn't really appeal to their ravenous desires. Therefore, the moment of suspense passed soon enough. The cloud of dust disipitated slowly into the air.

"You lads okay?" The driver of the vehicle - a pudgy man with slits for eyes - quickly came out of his car to examine the damage. What he found was two very shocked, but otherwise very okay-looking blonds picking themselves off the ground.

"Yeah, thanks." Zidane beamed cheerfully. "Managed to leap out of the way in time."

"Phew!" Cloud put a hand over his heart, sighing in relief. "A day in the life of Cloud and Zidane in the wonderful Planet of Terra. Day 1: We got knocked down by a car -- end of story."

For that, he earned a flying kick from the irritated monkey boy.

The driver sweatdropped, then asked, "What are you lads doing out in a nobody-land like this? Thought we were the last family to be leaving Centra..."

"Actually, we..." Zidane began, then stopped to think. Dropped down from the moon with the other monsters in the Lunar Cry? That would hardly sound like what someone in the right frame of mind would say, really. Instead, therefore, he continued, "... we're kindda lost. We saw your vehicle from a distance and thought of hitching a hike, so..."

"Hitching a hike, eh..." The old man stroked his beard thoughtfully, seemingly unable to make a decision. "... I have no qualms with that and I really do think it's the right thing to do, but the back of the car is already ful-"

"Chief!" A young voice called out.

All 3 of them then spun around to see a young boy of 7 or so with long, lush black hair hop down from the back of the vehicle through a small door and run quickly towards where they were.

Huffing and puffing, he pointed and asked, "Who're they?"

The driver merely laughed heartily, amused at the question; or maybe it was just the boy alone. "Just a couple of hitch-hikers, looking for a ride to the city, Laguna."

"Oh." The boy - Laguna, looked decidedly disappointed. "Not bad guys?" He asked to confirm, staring at the pudgy driver with large, innocent eyes. The driver laughed again.

"No, Laguna. Not bad guys. Not people we should fight against."

"Oh." Went Laguna again. Less than a split second later, he perked up instantaneously and gestured towards the back of the vehicle, where there seemingly was a door of sorts. "Well, what're you waiting for then? Get on! We're going to the city!!" He said in a almost sing-song mehtod. Cloud and Zidane looked at one another, before turning to look helplessly at the driver.

The man was already taking small steps towards the energetic boy, holding his hands up in the event. "Laguna, it's not as simple as that! We haven't got enough space in the car..."

"Who said anything about going into the car?" The boy cut the driver off halfway through and pouted. He then pointed again, this time at the roof of the car, making the driver gape in disbelief. "Up there! We've got enough room for 3 there!"

"Three?" Cloud frowned. He saw the young boy nod enthusiastically.

"Yeah! You, him, and ME!" He jumped up and down in joy. "OOooooH! I've ALWAYS wanted to know what it's like riding up on the roof of the car!!" Without delay, he made off for the side of the vehicle, using the metal ladder attached there for leverage. Cloud and Zidane merely watched on in numb confusion. They turned back to the driver, awaiting instructions.

"Oh well." The driver shook his head and adjusted his hat. "There's no stopping what that boy wants to do, so... do me a favour, would you?" He looked sheepishly at the two blonds in front of him. "Help me take care of that silly boy up there? He acts like a dork most of the time, and gets us all sick worrying... but he's got a bright future ahead of him... can't just let him fall off the roof and his future fall with him like that." He winked, wisdom and foresight twinkling in his eyes.

Taken slightly aback by the sudden request, but knowing that refusing it would mean refusing a ride away from the ruins and into civilization, Cloud nodded, if only a little too patronizing. Zidane, standing behind still with that big grin on his face which said, 'Leave it to us, Old Cowboy!', nodded as well.

"All right then, let's go before the monsters come!" The driver hurriedly re-entered the driver's seat, allowing some time for both newcomers to climb atop to the roof before re-starting the engine.

Soon, they were on their way again.

"Hey, Laguna!" Zidane grinned and saluted, earning a grin and salute back from Laguna as well. Cloud sighed inwardly, wondering where children and teenagers got all the energy from.

Nevertheless, he scraped up enough of his last bits of vitality to ask, "So... where're we headed for?"

Laguna pointed north.

"To a little country called Timber on the continent of Galbadia."

 

\-------------------------------  
hanareta  
27/7/01


	14. Chapter 14

Standard disclaimers apply.

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
yasumu

 

Galbadia City was a bustle of activity when Squall and Kuja arrived from their long and dreary hike around the continent. The former then quickly disappeared into a garment shop, mumbling something about wanting to stay undetected as far as he was concerned; thereby leaving Kuja to his own devices, wandering around the city and taking in the sights until sunset. They were to regroup at the Galbadia Hotel at nightfall.

The silver haired ex-villian, however, chose to sit at the fountain in the middle of the square, spending quite a bit of time there.

Oblivious to the weird stares he was gathering from the residents going about in their daily affairs.

While it appeared he was thinking, he was in fact, simply relaxing. He was in no mood, nor had any energy left to even think properly. He just wanted to sit down, stop his brain from moving - it could decompose and rot for all he cared now - and just get his muscles ready for the walk to the hotel. And when he finally decided that he was ready, he remembered that he did not know the way to the hotel. Damn Squall for forgetting to tell him.

A walk through the city revealed the spaciousness that belied it's almost humble outlook. Directly north from the main square, Kuja spotted what he assumed were architects poring over the latest version of an explicit blueprint. There was a skeleton of sorts of a halfway-done arc which Kuja supposed was going to be eventually built a good distance away from the architects. There were very grand things going on indeed, and being a fan of Grand, the silver-haired man was unable to stop himself from edging closer and closer to the raving architects, until he could hear their voices.

"Why do we have to put bars on both sides of the arc? Why can't we just put one set of bars in the middle? It's not like we're going to use the arc for a public prison, or anything..." One of the architects jabbed at the blueprints and loudly commented.

Sighing, his partner said, "Look, I do agree with you on an architectural standpoint, but in case you haven't noticed, these papers have been signed and sanctioned by the King himself! There's nothing we can do but follow it to very last detail. If it's the cost of the materials you're worried about, well, they're already bought, so that's really unnecessary..."

*Hmmm, the King!* Kuja mentally took notes. *Sounds like a person we should be visiting.* Noticing that the duo were still hot on the topic, he strolled casually over and quietly looked at the blueprint. It was indeed weird and strangely new to have 2 sets of movable bars on each side of the wide arc, constituting what was within to be a small version of a prison when the bars were in contact with the ground.

"Well, there's always a use for everything," Kuja began, without even realizing that he had spoken that out loud, "you know, some day, these bars might really come in handy."

Although the two architects turned their heads, they were really more perplexed than angry at the sudden interruption. "Come in handy for what?" Came the older-looking architect, wrinkling his already wrinkled face.

The silver-haired man merely shrugged. "I don't know." He smirked and began walking, until the architects could only see his back.

"An attempted assasination, maybe?"

When the cryptic ex-villian rounded the corner and went out of sight, the duo who were staring at his receding form turned back and stared at each other for a long, long time.

\-------------------------------

Galbadia Hotel was surprisingly easy to find once one left the main street. Situated right smack in the middle of the bustling city nightlife, it didn't take Kuja long to stroll casually into the hotel for a quick look around. Suffice to say the design of the hotel was a motley mix of ancient tradition and future fabrication - some Galbadia thing, he figured. Noticing the staircase which twirled into a lower level on his right, he swept gracefully into it.

There were a few soldiers, still in their uniforms, enjoying their midnight vacation, laughing loudly at some coarse joke or another, and a few solitary figures seated here and there. The mini-basement itself looked neat and nice - probably just a hangout for the lonely souls of the city who had nowhere to go to at night. There was a platform of sorts occupying a good length of the floor, obscured mostly by semi-translucent, filmsy white silk. It was not hard to spot the grand piano standing proudly on the platform, however, and Kuja was over in a hurry.

As he moved closer to the stage, he noticed that there was a distorted sort of sound coming from it - much like someone pounding with all his might at the keys on the piano. Brushing the white cloth aside, he soon found himself looking at the back of a tiny little girl, whose feet didn't even touch the floor when she was seated on the piano seat, entirely absorbed in the funny little tune she was tinkling out on the piano.

After a few more moments of the noise, Kuja sat himself down beside the little girl.

"That's not how you play a piano, my dear... THIS, is..." He gave the little girl a pat on the head, ignoring her surprised expression, and concentrated on playing - I dunno, Kuja's theme, maybe? XD Anyway, Kuja played a song of something - he played something that made the whole floor hush, something that made the little girl blush, and something that made a certain hatted figure on one of the couches flush.

When he finished the last note, he turned around and gave the little girl, now apparently awe-struck, another pat on her head. He was about to say something, when, 

"Ahem,"

someone politely coughed for attention. It was the hatted figure, who had now quietly strolled onto stage.

".................................................."

With a silence as long as that, it didn't take two minutes to figure out who it was.

Kuja laughed.

"You're doing wonders for your disguise." He made sure the voice dripped with acid satire from every word. "I almost couldn't recognize you. Serious."

Squall sighed and sat down on the other side of the piano seat where the little girl was. Neither of them noticed the little girl had gone back to tinkling non-stop on the keyboard. "At least I'm trying my best to stay out of public eye." The morose teenager shook his head.

"You don't have to try, Squall; in case you haven't noticed, you completely blend in with the scenary at any given time!" Kuja snorted. From the floor, the rowdy crowd were heard getting back to their rowdy discussions. "I suppose I don't have to ask, but still..."

"... what're we gonna do now?" Squall finished the sentence, then let out another sigh - irritating his companion to no end. "I seriously have no idea, sire. I took a quick survey of the city before I came here... and I think I've come to a conclusion that won't make any of us very happy..."

"Well, go on, make me unhappier than I already am, I'm just DYING for you to try." Kuja threw his hands up into the air and semi-snapped. Nothing, he decided, could make him any happier already anyway.

"... we're not in the right time." Was the soft reply.

When Squall saw Kuja's eyes turn into feline slits, he sweatdropped and quickly explained, "... I mean, I was going around the city to do some information gathering just now, but... they, don't know anything about the things of my time." He shrugged. "Heck, even the card game rules are different. Nothing about Balamb Garden, nothing about Vinzer Deling, not even the Sorceress War. We are NOWHERE near my time. If anything, I daresay we're just as clueless as Cloud and Zidane are, now."

Kuja watched with disinterest, as Squall suddenly sneezed twice. He took a moment to calm his raging questions down, before saying, "I heard the people talk about a King, whom I presume rules over this city." He leaned slightly closer and continued, "You think we should go pay him a visit?"

The dark-haired teenager stroked his chin gently at the suggestion. A King - was something he had never quite heard of in his time, only read of; in history books. Were they really so far off from the time where there were Gardens all over the world? A good way to find out, he finally decided, was to seek an audience with this King, and hope that he could provide the information they so desperately needed. He looked up from the thoughtful silence and gave Kuja a curt nod.

"Tomorrow would be fine; I think we both need some sleep badly." He started searching his pockets. "It's a good thing gil is still the common currency even in these times. Otherwise I think we'd have to start worrying about part-time jobs instead of finding the King, now."

"Just go get the room already!" Kuja almost kicked Squall off the piano seat, had the latter not stood up fast enough and bolted out of the basement before the former had a chance for another word. Kuja then folded his arms and stood up to leave as well.

Before he made it off the platform, however, the little girl ran forward and stopped him by tugging timidly at the edges of his half-skirt (XD: ....). He slowly turned around with a questioning look on his face, noticing that the girl seemed to have something to want to show him. She shyly shifted her weight from side to side, until finally she pointed in the direction of the piano. Kuja laughed inwardly. Perhaps she wanted to hear another tune? Or maybe she wanted him to teach her a key or two? In any case, when she started totting back to the piano, Kuja could only find himself following along in curiousity.

With much difficulty, the little girl lifted herself back onto the piano seat and adjusted her position.

And when she started playing, Kuja was shocked enough to raise his eyebrows.

Although she was only using her right hand, she replicated the tune Kuja had played previously to a T.

It wasn't everyday geniuses like these sat at boring middle basement rooms of dangerous hotel lobbies tinkling away with no regard whatsoever for possible dangers lurking around in the darkness.

Therefore, when she had finished her piece and turned around to beam at the man who had 'taught' her the tune, Kuja was already by her side, wondering what next to say and ask. He put a hand on her head and left it there, smiling puzzledly.

"What's your name?" He eventually gave up and used the oldest trick in the book. "You can call me Kuja."

Elation flashed over the girl's initially bashful face, as she opened her mouth to reply.

"Julia!"

A voice that was neither the girl's nor Kuja's sounded out. Both heads turned to investigate the newcomer, whose shadow could be seen ducking the pieces of white cloth on the stage. Eventually, a gloved hand swept away the last of the cloth blocking their view from him, and from the corner of his eye, Kuja thought he could see the little girl squirm a little. The newcomer - a man dressed to the nines in fur, linen and purple, swept towards the piano and gathered the little girl in his arms, while Kuja respectfully retreated two steps.

"Julia, haven't I told you not to wander around without escorts before? What if you run into muggers, or kidnappers? The city isn't as safe as the palace is, you understand... what will I do with you?" He eventually sighed. It is at this point of time that the author notices that the fic has become as dry and boring as Galbadia was spunky. Therefore, it is not to the surprise of the reader that Squall chooses this precise moment to tap Kuja on the shoulder, having sneaked in from nowhere and was currently mysteriously situated behind Kuja. He was supposed to be there to brighten things up.

When Kuja turned around, everybody directed their attention to the moody teenager.

Pointedly ignoring the thick atmosphere, Squall merely said softly, "Um, the staff says there aren't anymore rooms available."

There was a pause.

Followed by an exasperated groan.

"I am so not amused." Kuja thunked heavily back down on the piano seat, crossed his legs and pouted majorly.

"I'm not lying." Squall folded his arms across his chest and pouted too.

"I'm not saying you're lying, I'm just trying to amuse myself by pretending I'm not amused while wondering what to do that would eventually prevent us from having to take on the wonderful streets of Galbadia - not all entirely clean and nice, by the way..." Kuja dryly replied. "... oh what the heck." He ended up throwing his arms into the air and running through a cussing exercise in his head.

"We could always rent a car... and sleep in it, I suppose."

"Well, that's an idea." Kuja nodded. "Wait, are they still open at this hour in the night?"

Squall took a dive into his imaginary timer up in his skull. He then shook his head slowly.

Trying to keep his temper in check; for super villians with 800,000 HP should not be sleeping on the streets of the planet he eventually will destroy further down the stream of time, Kuja breathed in rather forcefully. He was just sorry he didn't destroy Terra earlier. Well, now would be a good time to destroy it again, but if he did that, they'd never be able to solve the Zidane problem. Right, no, destroying the planet can wait. First, a decent place to sleep. He noticed a tug at his sleeve, and returned his attention to the world.

"Papa says..." it was the little girl Julia, "... that you can come with us, if you don't mind..."

Squall and Kuja turned to look at one another, then at 'Papa'.

"We have a lot of spare rooms in the palace." The man merely grinned. For some reason, his moustache reminded Kuja alot of Regent Cid.

Squall lapsed into dark silence, and Kuja frowned.

"There's a catch to this." The pale-haired ex-villian turned to look at the royal people from the corner of his eye, all too eager to be suspicious. "We were just mentioning how we were going to pay the king a visit tomorrow, and the king comes visit us today. There has GOT to be catch to this."

As if on cue, the king began laughing raspily, stroking his moustache. "You're right about that, I'm afraid. Even though a monarch, I certainly cannot allow a person to stay in the palace by pure good will. You see," the laughy king lowered his voice to a hush, "we have a reception at the palace tomorrow night for the Lords and Ladies of Galbadia, and we promised them a really good show. The problem is..."

"The performers ran away." Squall offered his unique insight into the matter. This made the king laugh nervously.

"Well, no... no... they didn't 'run away', per se..." The man objected, if only out of embarassment. "... they disappeared - into thin air." He shook his head sombrely, putting up a hand to stop the obvious 'how can you be so sure' question. "I'm quite sure because they left their props, costumes and scripts where they were staying within the palace grounds. We offered them a large sum of money, mind you, enough to probably allow them to retire after the whole performance was over; they spent months practicing, too. There was no reason at all for their disappearance. There wasn't even any signs of a struggle to suggest a kidnap. The palace guards are baffled because they haven't spotted anything weird, as are we. Therefore, we ARE in quite a fix here..."

"There are other people in the city who can act," Kuja shrugged like Squall would, "and besides, you can always postpone the play, right? You ARE the king, you know."

"Ahaha..." The king began to laugh nervously again, putting a hand to the back of his head. "Tomorrow is quite the crucial thing, as the people have been roused up recently...

"... already rumours of the Sorceress appearing in Esthar are making the heart of the people sway; they have always considered the Sorceress to be a more capable leader than any man, having seen scores of history books praise the Sorceress' ability to lead the land into heights unscaled before by previous monarchs. When news of the disappearance of the performers leaked out, the palace got feedback that the people, from the lords to the peasants, were murmuring against the poor adminstrative abilities of this kingdom, which cannot even organize an event of entertainment properly..."

The king sighed, patting the head of his daughter, who stood nearly, listening intently to what he was saying.

"I do not intend to lead this kingdom for very long, and believe that someone capable will eventually take over this system of rulership; but there is one thing that I will not allow, and that is to let the hearts of the people cave in to the sweet-talk of the Sorceress. They are blinded by the good things they see and hear and cannot see the bad things that are behind the 'beauty'. I cannot let the people sway towards the Sorceress -- that's why this performance is so important, even in it's small, tiny way, to prove that this kingdom can still last - it can still stand against the Sorceress. I cannot postpone it; neither can I look for someone who is of this land to play it. I hope you understand."

There was a long silence, as the king's followers wept inwardly and strengthened their loyalty towards their liege. Squall and Kuja simply stood and thought about it. It looked like the king needed an answer quickly.

"What do you think, weather-syndrome?" Kuja turned to look at his companion.

Squall shrugged. "Whatever. We've got nothing to lose, right?"

"No kidding..." Kuja was already rotating several images of Squall dressing up in Victorian, strutting the stage and sprouting Shakespeare - except that Shakespeare never existed in Final Fantasy. But that is besides the point. The silver-haired ex-villian pulled his right hand out and offered it to the king. "... well, you got yourself a deal. We'll do our best."

Julia began jumping up and down excitedly, when her father shook the outstretched hand.

"And you got yourself a place to stay tonight."

\-------------------------------

The wind was calm, the waters still.

"You know, Laguna, I think it'd be a good idea to actually start marking the way we came from -- it's dark, misty and late at night; at this rate, we might not be able to find out way back-"

"Relax, my fellow mate!" A dark, and rather short shadow slapped himself twice on his chest, while striding forward in large, confident steps. "This is merely a small quest to retrieve oil and petrol from the nearby city of Galbadia. There is no need to do grand things like marking the road so as to find our way back."

The taller figure beside him sighed. "Tell me, which turn did we take at the previous junction?"

"......................right?" was the answer. Then, "No wait, left! Yeah, right!!"

Another figure stopped in his march and put his hands akimbo. "Left or right?"

"Right, left, right- I mean..."

Laguna's two blond companions shook their heads and sighed - not for the first, or the last time that night.

 

\-------------------------------  
yasunda  
30/8/01


	15. Chapter 15

Standard disclaimers apply.

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
saikai da

 

When the threesome - lead by their brave and strong leader Laguna finally arrived at the city of Galbadia, it was because it was already daybreak, and there was light. Needless to say all three were more or less tired over walking aimlessly for the entire night. Laguna very promptly fell dead asleep on the streets, leaving Cloud and Zidane no choice but to pluck him off the road and toss him over the shoulder while they proceeded to search for oil and petrol. Not two steps from the entrance of the city was the car station.

"'Morning!" The attendant behind the car accessories stall greeted cheerily, when he noticed the duo walking towards the store. The other assistants were busy unfolding the stand-up promotion sign outside the stall and unlocking the store. "How can I help you?" He grinned happily.

"Um, good morning." Cloud relieved himself of Laguna by throwing him to the unawares Zidane, causing both of them to tumble to the ground. "How much petrol do we need to make it to... um, Timber?"

"Timber?" The attendant raised an eyebrow in confusion. Timber was on the further west of Galbadia continent. "Where in the world did you guys come from?"

Cloud blinked twice in confusion. "We drove here on a vehicle-boat. I think the place we came from was called Centra, or something."

"Centra?" The attendant was even more bewildered. "You know, I'll be damned or something, but if you DID drove-floated here on a vehicle-boat, Timber should be your first stop, and NOT Galbadia city! What in the world happened?"

"Oh, you don't wanna know." Cloud began patting his inventory for gil. "We spent MOST of our time floating around the sea, when a certain dark-haired boy insisted on learning how to 'man the ship'..." he grumbled softly, throwing knowing looks over at Laguna, who was still sleeping on the ground, Zidane having given up trying to make him sit a long time ago, "... I suppose somehow everything got screwed up and stuff, but here we are, on the northern tip of the continent, out of oil and petrol, but still wanting to go to Timber..."

The attendant was listening intently, nodding his head with sympathy. It appeared that he was experienced with this brand of road idiots, enough so that he could actually empathize. At the back of his head, professional instincts kicked in and calculations began to manifest themselves. "Well if Timber is your final destination," he stroked his chin in thought, "I'd suggest you get at least 20 worth of petrol. Never know when we might end up drive-floating the wrong direction, do we?" He winked. Cloud merely laughed good-naturedly.

"Give me a moment, sir." He turned towards Zidane, who looked up from the ground with a bored expression on his face. "Zidane, you... got any gil on you or something?"

The confused monkey allowed that question to sink in for a while before turning in all directions, patting on pockets, hidden pockets, concealed pockets, and pockets he didn't even know existed. He came up with a measly 1000++ gil.

"I was under the impression that you handed the gil to Squall." Zidane offered a lopsided smile, one that meant - good-gracious-i-hope-you-didn't. Cloud did a familiar careless shrug and smiled back almost in embarassment.

"You're right. I did."

The morning breeze blew.

"Great! And we forgot to ask some from old pops in the car!" Zidane found that he couldn't stop smiling, as he put a hand to his forehead. "So how now? Sprint back and get the money?"

"We could do that." Cloud lifted a finger and pointed at Sleeping Laguna. "But do you remember the way we came by?"

The morning breeze blew.

"... argh."

"Yes, argh."

They sighed in unison.

"You guy sure look like you gotta lot on your load." The attendant from the stall was laughing, having overheard the entire conversation. "If you're not in a rush, you could always stay in the city and do some part-time for the money, you know."

"We ARE in a rush." The duo replied. Laguna continued snoring.

The attendant continued looking surprised and amused. Suddenly snapping out of that look, however, he glanced quickly around the environment and gestured for the both of them to gather closer. "There is," he said when the distance was close enough, "another option - a quicker one, though...

"... there's some big thing going on tonight at the palace, something about a really big performance." He breathed in. "I heard that they're lacking performers to do the big show..."

"You must be joking," Zidane laughed, "something as big as that would have the whole town's able and available young men and women clamouring for it already, wouldn't it? I doubt we'd even have standing ground for the audition."

"You're really buying this, aren't you." Cloud turned to look at his companion, who shrugged slightly and puckered his lips. The attendant once again laughed.

"That's the whole point why I'm telling you this, right, young men? The royal organizers are apparently rejecting every young folk who belongs to the continent of Galbadia alone, denying that there is even a problem with the event. The townsfolks aren't blind or deaf, unfortunately, and they won't buy it. That's why tonight will be quite the deciding factor - the people of Galbadia will not take this kingdom anymore if they find that it is led by no one by a deceitful creed. I heard that they will allow audiences if you weren't people of Galbadia. Maybe you guys can try."

The blond headed mercenary and thief merely exchanged glances. "That is a lot of information stemming from one of the supposed unhappy townsfolk." Cloud turned sideways and looked at the man from the corner of his eye.

Chuckling, the man tapped his pen rythmatically on the table.

"Maybe, just maybe, I feel that there is still hope for this kingdom... more than there would be hope if the Sorceress indeed took over..."

"We are grateful." Cloud smiled nevertheless, noticing that the Sorceress was involved in this event, meaning that it would be better if they got themselves involved too. "Thank you for the information."

"No problem, lads!" The attendant grinned. "Just remember to buy those 20 worth petrol from me when you get your paycheck!"

\-------------------------------

They walked in silence for the most part of the journey - partly due to fatigue, but mostly due to frustration. There was nothing to hear, but the buzzing of the busy afternoon city bazaar, and the trudging of the people's feet along the sandy pathways of Galbadia City. Zidane turned to look at the sky, and saw a faint rim of white. That must be Gaia, he thought to himself.

"What do you think?" Cloud's voice made him turn back from the sky. "What should our next step be?"

"..." went the monkey boy for a while. "... I honestly don't know, Cloud. I don't even know if we'll see Squall and Kuja again." He stopped walking and stood still on the ground, making Cloud stop to turn back and look at him. The boy was visibly troubled.

"... Do you think we'll see them again?" He finally asked.

Cloud almost laughed.

"They're alive." He shrugged and looked away, smiling faintly; almost as if he was comforting himself. "We still need to go tour Squall's Garden, remember?"

Zidane looked at him as if he was crazy. "I never knew Squall had a garden."

"Yeah, whatever." Cloud rolled his eyes. "Don't worry about those two bozos, they can take care of themselves. Hey, we might just bump into them around the corner, for all we know."

"Hah hah." The monkey boy crossed his arms and continued walking. Somehow, that laugh was devoid of all mirth. They walked together for a while until Zidane stopped and looked at the skies again. Cloud groaned, turning around. What was it that people had so much to think about? Walking was just walking, wasn't it?

"What's the matter *now*?" The blond mercenary spared no efforts in making his tone sound as assertive as he could muster. "Is there a strange machine in the sky or something? Why do you keep looking up?"

"I was just thinking..." Zidane frowned and upturned his lips. "... haven't we... forgotten something?"

Cloud looked at the skies as well - realizing that it did help facilitate thinking, since the sky was not as distracting as moving people. He thought long and hard.

A little while later, two people breathed really sharply and turned to look at one another.

"Laguna!!"

\-------------------------------

"Where am I?" The raven-haired boy scratched his head and continued walking, glancing from left to right. "Where's Cloud and Zidane?" He kept pushing the taller adults away in irritation. "And why are there so many people here?!! - OOF!"

The knock into an incoming adult sent him reeling all the way to outer space and back. By the time he regained focus there were tiny planets and stars circling his head. He had to shake really hard to get them back to where they came from in outer space.

Amidst the hurrying people who were purchasing their wares quickly before the bazaar ended it's day, the person who had knocked into Laguna stood out as a stark contrast in movement, action and especially in aura. Laguna found himself unable to take his eyes off the stranger - who was regarding him with a doubtful expression. Finally, he gracefully swept downwards and offered a hand to the boy with a rather evil looking smirk on his face. It was not that he had any evil intention in mind, Laguna decided, as he grabbed the hand and heaved himself up, it almost seemed as if this guy had been evilly smirking all his life and just could not kick the habit.

"Thanks, mister!" Laguna smiled happily. He was about to walk away when he noticed the stranger still staring at him weirdly. Something was definitely amiss. "Is there something wrong, sir?"

The silver-haired stranger looked away - as if he was embarassed, but quickly regained his composure and asked, "Are you... by any chance, surnamed Leonhart?"

The boy stayed in his position for a few seconds, pondering the possible ways of answering that question and wondering about their consequences. Eventually he shrugged, and said, "Nope, my name is Laguna, Laguna Loire, not Leonhart. I don't know anybody by that name, too."

"Oh." The stranger looked apprehensive. "Well, the formalities are in place, so it is in my best interest to introduce myself as well - my name is Kuja." He bowed slightly, making Laguna wonder if he was by any way related to royalty. "There is a performance at the royal grounds this evening, and I will be performing."

"You're an actor??" Laguna practically squealed. "COOL! Can I go see, can I??"

"Why, of course you may." Kuja laughed. "The world is invited." There was still that shadow of apprehension clouding his features, though, when he looked at Laguna again. Nevertheless, he smiled and asked, "Are you alone on the streets? It is quite dangerous around this time of the day at the bazaars..." Feline eyes darted from side to side to disarm any wannabe-pickpockets by the stare alone.

"Well..." Laguna scratched the back of his head again, laughing nervously, "... I'm kindda lost, you see. I came with these two blond guys, but we lost each other on the way here... at least, that's what I think happened." Laguna shrugged and grinned. "I think they should be out of their minds looking for me now, coz I'm the only one who knows the way back to the Shelter!"

"Did you just say," Kuja interupted the boy in mid-stammer, "... two blond guys?"

To this, Laguna nodded eagerly. "The best! They accompanied me all the way here to get some petrol so we can continue moving to Timber. Cloud has this really spikey hair that defies all senses of gravity, but he's really cool! Zidane's cool too, and he's nice to talk with! I really like the tail too, I wonder how he fixes that there..."

Pausing for a breather, he noticed with discomfort that Kuja was now really looking at him with an expression which denoted ill intentions. But Laguna had long decided that Kuja was just born that way, so he dispelled the thoughts and waited for Kuja to speak instead. It did not take long, for Kuja was bubbling with things to say.

"Cloud and Zidane? They're here too?" The silver-haired man almost exclaimed. A small grin tugged at the edges of his mouth. Laguna only nodded in response.

"You know them?" The boy asked warily.

"Know them?" Kuja practically scoffed. 'We dropped down from the moon together!' was hardly the right thing to say, however, so he simply replied, "We're... in the same acting troupe!" He waved a hand in front of his face to hide the fact that he was flushing from the outright misinformation. "They went out to... explore the world some time back and we never heard from them again! Are they going to get it from me when I see them..." His eyes were already glinting with limitless thoughts of doom. "... so, where are they?"

"I don't know, mister, I thought I told you that already." Laguna grinned and shrugged. So Cloud and Zidane were actors who explored the world but got lost somewhere in the middle! This was all so exciting! "But they'll be in Galbadia City until they find me, that I know for sure." The confident reply gave even Kuja a sweatdrop. The ex-villian then checked the skies and pouted a little.

"Well, Laguna, I haven't got all day because I have some preparations to make before the evening arrives... Why don't you come with me? The performance is grand-scale and will be sure to attract everybody within the city. I'm sure it'll attract Cloud and Squall too." He then winked purposefully at the boy. "Maybe you can land a role somewhere in the script, too."

At this, Laguna perked up considerably. "Sure! Why not?" He ran towards the already walking Kuja, and together they travelled the rest of the journey back to the palace.

Even though he was starkly different in personality, Kuja could not help but put the two together. While joking and laughing with the boy en route, his mind was on but one thought...

*I wonder what Squall's reaction will be... ?*

\-------------------------------

"..............................................."

"Stop that, Squall. I'll go deaf sooner or later, the rate you're keeping quiet..." Zidane grumbled to his dark-haired companion, Cloud trudging along close behind. He was merely offered a curt glance.

"... I'm sorry, but I really didn't expect to bump into you guys just around the corner." Squall mumbled with a pokered face, garnering sweatdrops from the other two guys, as they remembered the earlier 'around the corner' joke.

"So where're you taking us now?" Cloud, who had been rather quiet from since turning the corner and hitting Squall right on the forehead, spoke up.

"The palace."

"The WHAT?"

"Palace, he said 'palace', Zidane."

"I know, 'palace', but WHY the palace? We haven't done anything wrong!"

"Relax, we're not going there because you've done anything wrong. Kuja and I are actually staying there temporarily. We're also helping the King do a performance tonight at the palace grounds..." He trailed off, half embarassed.

"Is this also the same performance that will determine the people's decision about the fate of the kingdom?" Cloud turned his face to a side and asked, recalling the car attendant's words that morning.

Squall simply nodded. "Really well-informed, aren't we."

"But Cloud, what about Laguna?" Zidane turned back to ask the blond mercenary, effectively pausing time and space for the one and only Squall Leonhart. He halted immediately, but otherwise did nothing to convey his absolute shock. Not noticing the discrepancy in action, Cloud and Zidane walked on. "We still haven't found him, you know. We're supposed to go back tonight with the petrol..."

"I know," Cloud was saying, "but look at it this way, this performance thingie is really big, according to various sources, so Laguna should hear about it, and maybe he'll come and watch. We'll keep a lookout for him until then. Unless you have anymore better ideas, that is."

While they continued debating, Squall slowly recovered from his shock and walked behind the duo noiselessly, listening in with the slightest bit of interest. This was the first name he had heard from since arriving at Terra that might be connected to his time and dimension. He wondered if it was the correct Laguna, and even if it was, was it even the correct time. Not willing to divulge his part of the story until he was entirely sure, Squall continued this way all the way to the palace.

\-------------------------------

"Is he back yet?" Kuja asked the guard who stood at the palace gates.

"Who, sir?" The guard politely questioned.

"Squall, the moody teenager who went out with me this morning." Kuja expounded.

"Oh!" The guard remembered. "No, sir, he is not back from his errands yet. I have not seen him walk this way since he exited this morning."

Kuja nodded, bowing slightly out of pure instinct and habit. "Thank you for the information." He then walked into the palace, followed by a bubbling Laguna, who observed everybody in the household buzzing with activity, preparing for the oncoming performance.

"Say, Laguna," Kuja waved at the little boy, "I'll be putting some things away for the time being. You try not to get lost among the throngs, okay?" He smiled. Laguna gave him the thumbs-up in agreement. With that, the ex-villian disappeared into the palace proper.

The dark-haired boy turned a full round to inspect the busy place, eyes wide and jaws gaped.

"This place is big..." He breathed. Wandering along the paths of servants who were running errands and generally making up the palace, he had to swerve to avoid the occasional servant-running-astray as well as the frequent falling decoradum. It looked from outside, a festive occasion involving the entire household of servants and masters alike, but a keen sense of instinct told Laguna that something else was hidden beneath the thin veil of appearance the people were trying to give. Something just didn't feel right.

He turned this way and that, until he finally reached a contrastingly more silent part of the palace grounds. It was peaceful, and overgrown with long grass, weeds, the occasional flower or two and some really huge trees. He wondered briefly if he hadn't walked out of the palace into some unkept park or another, but decided that it couldn't be so.

Finding a log, he rested.

As the sky slowly turned a beautiful shade of orange, soft, tinkering sounds of a piano floated into the ears of the resting boy. He listened to the halting keys being pressed, until finally they seemed to have come to a rest. Getting up and gently treading through the grass to a wall where there was a window about two storeys upwards, Laguna wondered what he should do.

He shrugged, then clapped as loudly as he could, hoping the player of the piano could hear the applause.

After a while, a head poked out of the window to look at him, but due to the glaring rays of the sun, he could not see the face.

"Hey there!" Laguna grinned and struck a pose. "You were the one playing the piano, weren't you?"

Although he squinted, he could not catch the reaction of the listener. Judging from the fact that he/she had not turned away from the window, he continued, "That was some spiffy work you know! I could never tinker a piano like that, I tell 'ya." He grinned again. "You'll make it big one day, I just know it!"

"Laguna!" Kuja's head poked from around the corner. "Thought you'd be here." He almost grinned to himself. This was a quiet corner of the palace Squall had taken to during the time he had spent here. For some weird reason or another he knew he'd find Laguna here almost as if he was sure he'd find Squall here had the latter been in the palace. "Come on, the performance is kicking up."

The boy ran after Kuja, but looked back at the window, where he had seen someone poke his/her head out of. "Hey, I hope I can hear you play some other time! See you around!"

With that, he bounded out of the area.

And up at the 2nd storey, Julia sat beside the window, with a huge smile set on her face as she tried to catch the last glimpses of the dark-haired boy. She went back to her piano, and practiced harder than she thought was needed.

Maybe, just maybe, she could really play for that boy one day.

 

\-------------------------------  
saikai datta  
1/10/01


	16. Chapter 16

Standard disclaimers apply.

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
hain no matsuei da

 

The window to the royal rooms were opened. The king sat by it, peering at the skies, as it turned darker. He was oblivious to the hustle and bustle on his palace grounds, happy to be in his own personal solitude. The winds gently played with the silk curtains by the windows. It was a cool, refreshing wind. A wind he had been feeling for a good part of this dooming reign he was holding. A wind, although physically uplifting, which brought nothing but ill instructions.

A flutter of black robes failed to get the king to turn his head. He had no need to, of course. He knew who stood there.

"The sorceress is pleased that you have done according to her wishes," the disembodied voice of the figure clad in black spoke up, "she will be coming in person herself, shortly this evening."

The king continued staring out of the window, giving nothing to indicate his attention.

"When the sorceress stands in power, you will be duly rewarded." The voice continued. "Everything is going as planned. Tonight will be the final night Galbadia stands independant."

Having finished his piece, the man prepared to leave the same way he arrived.

"Wait."

It was the king.

"Yes, sir," the man merely remained for a while in the room, politely giving his attention to the king's apparent doubt over something. All the while he had acted as Adel's messenger the king had never asked of anything of him. The king did everything the sorceress said. Since it was going to be the final night for the kingdom, the man figured he would acede to any request for information from the king, as a sort of final regard.

There was a long moment of silence.

"Nevermind." The king sighed, and returned to looking outside the window.

The man lingered around for a while more in an air of regret, before shuffling and disappearing in a whisper of wind.

The king closed his eyes, holding his sorrow in his heart. He did not wish to step out of his room, even when his servants called for him.

He did not know how to face his people anymore.

\-------------------------------

"Oooh, great great great great! I love theatres! Just tell me what you want me to do!" Zidane's excitement could be clearly seen in his madly wagging tail. He bobbed all around Squall, who was trying to make head and tail out of the script Kuja had just handed him before hopping off somewhere himself, but to no avail. They walked down the corridor backstage, not quite noticing the dire lack of backstage helpers in hand.

"Squall, where's Kuja?" Cloud came up from the front, having gone forward first to check out the situation. The SeeD looked up from the script to see bright blue eyes staring right back at him, making him jump backwards and in the event knocking Zidane onto the ground.

"That was scary. Please don't do it again." Squall sighed, accidentally stepping on Zidane's tail as he tried to move out of the way of Cloud's unearthly eyes. The monkey-boy muffled a yowl of pain.

"Where is Kuja?" The mercenary only repeated, frowning as he did.

"What's wrong?" Squall asked quietly. The question felt like a prelude to something he really really didn't want to know.

Cloud looked away for a brief second, then beckoned at everybody. After first picking Zidane off the floor, they made their way towards the top of the theatre backstage, staring at the crowd that had gathered and the dark, inky skies.

Without a single word, he slowly raised a gloved hand to point into the distance, his expressions unsettled. First glancing at each other, Squall and Zidane then followed the direction of the finger and widened their eyes in disbelief at what they saw.

The people continued to gather, not yet knowing the drama that was unfolding above their heads.

\-------------------------------

The black robed stranger floated, with his back facing Kuja, who had set up an invisible barrier infinitely upwards and downwards, giving the man no chance at escaping. The silver-haired man folded his arms, waiting patiently for the other party to turn around so they could talk. He kept his smile neutral, but it was becoming very difficult to leash up the malice growing stronger and stronger in his head. The black robed stranger was inducing all the wrong intents in Kuja's head by his presence alone.

"I do not know you." The stranger finally spoke up. "Why are you stopping me from leaving?"

The ex-villian smiled dangerously.

"Am I to allow the shadow of a person leaving from the royal chambers to come and leave just as he deemds fit?"

"You are not a palace guard." The man asserted.

"I am not exactly blind, either." Kuja frowned. "And I *am* under the services of the king, although in another department. Will I just let an assassin leave without putting in my part, then?"

"..." went the man, "... the king is well - he has not been harmed. If truly you are under his services, then go to him and see if this is true."

"There will be others doing that," Kuja smirked, "I have better things to do."

They faced off in mid-air for a while more.

"Release the barrier." The man sounded annoyed. "Or else."

Kuja chortled. "Or else?" He asked with wide eyes, challenging the stranger to finish his statement.

A dark, bloody aura surrounded the man almost instantaneously. Kuja took in the tension in the air and assessed the powers of the man. As much as he did not want this to happen, he had - unfortunately, overheard the conversation the man held with the king and was intrigued to a great extent about the situation on hand here. It sounded like the sorceress had actually ordered the king to do what he had done - and if that was the case, then the children of Hyne had much more to do with the larger picture than he had initially thought. One way or the other - Kuja wanted to know. Delaying, and perhaps defeating this man... was the key to the answer he, and the rest of the crew, had been seeking for.

\-------------------------------

The large woman stepped out of her chariot, having a rather impressive height for a lady in general. She was accompanied by nobody - for she needed no guards. She scanned through the crowds quickly and strided through them just as quickly, finding her way to the front where she could grab the attention of the crowd with one sweeping glance.

A few persons were brave enough to point at her, silently questioning her place in a large group of ordinary people with their companions. The woman pointedly ignored them, deciding that she would deal with them later. Her features darkened when she could not find what she was trying to look for.

*His aura is here all right.* The sorceress Adel thought darkly to herself. *And yet he is not within the crowds. Where could he be?*

As if on cue, a huge maelstrom ignited above her head, causing screams to be heard from all directions.

Adel looked upwards.

\-------------------------------

"You mock me with your presence, imbecile!" The stranger screeched, another spell powering up on his other hand. "How dare you make fun of the knight of the sorceress!"

"Hear hear." Kuja rolled his eyes, not affected by the weak spells the man was tossing out at all. "So the sorceress IS behind this whole facade. What is her motive? Why make such an elaborate scheme to capture Galbadia when all she has to do is to declare war on it?"

"You know not the wisdom of sorceress Adel." The knight sneered. "Of course she does this so as to minimize the damage on both sides!"

"I don't think so." Kuja turned his head in doubt. "I don't think so at all."

"Think what you want, then." The man laughed. "Sorceress Adel will kill the 4 travellers of time just as the children of Hyne (footnote) have been prophesied to! She who does that shall be the true chosen Child!"

The silver-haired man merely took in all of his ramblings with a quirked eyebrow. Travellers of time? Children of Hyne? Can we say... oro? He sighed. More unravelling to do after this... if he survives this...

"I am the knight of the sorceress." The man suddenly calmed down and glowed eeriely. "I will assist her into becoming the Chosen."

\-------------------------------

Adel's anger could be instantaneously felt, when she saw her knight squaring off with one of the travellers of time she had intended to trap. The people within 5 feet radius of where she stood were, well, thrown backwards by the force of her rage alone. She turned around, storming unceremoniously towards the stage, which she could use as a soapbox. This caught the attention of the king, whose window overlooked the stage pretty well, and the rest of the gang, who were standing on the catwalk above the stage. In fact, it caught the attention of practically everybody else.

Adel took the stage and glared at everybody who had gathered. Sounds of an ensuing battle could be heard from above them all, which everybody else mistook as fireworks. Otherwise, there was deadly silence. They all thought the performance was about to begin.

"Pathetic..." Adel began, "... fools!" She ended with flourish. Not giving the audience much of a chance to react, she laughed. "This night marks the end of your beloved kingdom, Galbadians." She turned to the general direction of the palace, smirking, knowing that the king was shaking like a leaf within his abode. "Your peace ends n-!!!!"

She was interrupted when a semi-charred being was tossed towards her in front of the stage, rather well-done on firaga. Adel could only jolt backwards in a hurry, allowing her knight to collapse abruptly in a heap. The purple-clad mage we know as Kuja immediately touched down nearby on a passageway leading to the stage after that, slowly making his way down with a dangerous scowl on his face and quite a bit of burn marks on his otherwise pristine armour.

"You are soooo going to pay." He growled immediately when he came near the stage, shooting daggers at Adel, who shot them right back.

"You wish to fight me, here, now?" Adel asked, still glaring.

"No no, I think he meant something else." Zidane suddenly appeared from behind the tall sorceress and nodded his head gravely. Temporarily snapping out of her anger, Adel stumbled into confusion.

"... ?"

Kuja growled even more, this time at Zidane.

"He wants you to pay," the monkey boy stared seriously into Adel's eyes, without a glimmer of falsity showing, "for his laundry fees."

Adel blinked.

"Our story begins one fine day in Galbadia," Squall mumbled in a dead-pan tone into the sound amplifier, with the most horribly faked Centra accent he could muster. "The sorceress was doing her usual stuff, tearing up the streets and scaring little children into giving her their lollipops. However, she appears to have met her match. All the lollipops had already been stolen by a bandit, and that meant she could not have her usual fun of bullying children for lollipops. Now, the plot thickens, as the bandit and the sorceress faces off for all the stolen lollipops." Squall finished, stil lwith a dead-pan tone and a emotionless countenance.

There was a collective sweatdrop on the part of the audience.

Zidane took it as his cue to do something, and so he pushed his palm into Adel's face, breaking the silence between them.

There were 3 seconds of silence.

Then.

"YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Zidane whistled appreciatively, hopping backwards to get out of the ear-drum breaking range of the enraged sorceress. He managed to hop to a nearby stage prop when Adel made a swipe for him with her fingernails. He grinned inanely.

"Squall, I'm going to kill you." Cloud gave Squall the thumbs-down for his previous lollipop story and scowled massively. The teenager merely shrugged.

"Whatever." He said.

"Lollipops rulezZZZ~~~!!!" Zidane had somehow clambered all the way to the highest visible prop there was on stage and was currently leaping from bar to bar like a... well, monkey. In the meantime, he kept himself busy proclaiming the apparent sovereignty of lollipops.

More sweatdrops from the audiences could be seen.

While Adel continued shaking her fist at Zidane, Kuja blasted her with a flare spell, grinning maniacally as he did. Both Cloud and Squall turned blue in the face at the sight of that. This had degenerated into some spastic spell-tossing tournament.

Adel spun around, eyeing Kuja carefully.

"Actually," Kuja turned serious, the grin wiped off his face, "I've heard about all your plans from your knight." He shook his head. "Is this why you've come up with such an elaborate sham? To fulfill Hyne's half-wit prophecy about the travellers of time?"

"My goal is to take over Galbadia," Adel said, loud enough for everybody to hear, "and then destroy the enemies of Hyne." She frowned. "Have you never read the oracle of the Lunatic Pandora?"

When the rest of them stared at her with blank looks on their faces, she merely smirked.

"You will not have a chance to, then." She laughed. "For you shall die in this day, by my hands!"

The earth trembled and shivered, slowly, then quickly, to enter a full-scale earthquake, separating the people from the destined fighters. Kuja harumphed, quickly flying upwards to curb the damages, if any. What Adel did, however, was merely to lift the chunk of land the stage had been built on and toss it somewhere westwards, until it became a dot on the horizon. She then descended quickly into the valley she had just created, challenging the foursome with her evil smile as she did.

There was no time to think. There was only time to do. All four of them leapt in after Adel with no second thoughts.

The people quickly ran along, peering over the cliff of the valley, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was going on, and feeling rather stupid while they were at it. Thankfully for them, though, the valley was not too deep, and they could still see and hear what was going on downwards.

"Look," Adel was saying, as she stood in front of a half-buried structure covered with weird paintings, "the artifact of Hyne that will lead me into becoming the Chosen..."

The wind blew.

"That half-chipped fake crystal lookalike will lead you into what??" Cloud's mouth was agape with confusion.

"Hmm." Squall stroked his chin, pretending to understand but not knowing how that run-down junk could help anyone do anything.

"It doesn't look very edible." Zidane moaned.

"Don't try to eat it." Kuja rolled his eyes.

"..." Adel sweatdropped. "Go away." She sighed, tossing a large meteor spell as she spun around. "I've had enough of your idiocrasy. One more glance at you will make me sick."

The meteor hit the ground with a lot of noise but without much introduction or flourish. And the four of them were nowhere to be seen, after the cloud of dust cleared.

"You underestimate us, Adel," Kuja suddenly popped up from behind the large piece of space junk. He was followed quickly by the rest, who emerged from all directions. "Was that spell intended to hurt at all?" He smiled in mockery.

"You test my patience." The sorceress glared.

"And you, mine." Kuja glared right back.

"Sorceress," the black-robed man well-done with firaga suddenly appeared beside her, still well-done with firaga but at least conscious enough to talk now, "there is no need for this. Please consider your steps carefully."

"Hmph!" Adel snapped, still looking at the foursome with hot anger.

"Sorceress," the knight said firmly, "Hyne has not warned us against the time travellers for nothing. Please, consider your steps carefully."

For a while more, Adel continued staring at the four of them, jumping from one person to the other, unhappiness and annoyance showing in all of her actions. However, that moment soon passed and she closed her eyes, indeed considering her steps very carefully.

The knight was right.

Hyne had not warned his children about the time travellers for nothing.

She shifted her weight, preparing to leave.

"Oh, and leave that half-chipped crystal lookalike thingie you call an artifact behind, too." Zidane grinned maniacally, ignoring all possible dangers those words could put him to. He knew he had a strong team backing him, and being together with them always made him feel invincible.

The sorceress merely offered him a curt glance, before turning her back to them and preparing to leave with her knight, leaving the artifact behind.

"I don't get it." She was stopped by Kuja's voice, which she could feel was directed towards her.

"I don't get it at all." The red mage stood his ground, high on the fallen meteor rock, grave in his expressions, solemn in his tone.

"What would you gain by being the chosen child of Hyne?"

Adel's shoulders jerked slightly, as if she had just scoffed at the question.

Then, in a wistful voice, she answered.

"Even sorceresses... have things that they want..."

The winds began to hush.

"And sometimes... these things are so simple... nobody will believe it..."

She took a few steps forward, then disappeared in a split second. Her knight turned to glance at the group with an unreadable expression on his face, then he disappeared as well.

The starked terrain of the battleground that almost was howled sadly when a slow breeze travelled over it. It had many things to mourn about.

 

\-------------------------------  
hain no matsuei datta  
2/3/2002


	17. Chapter 17

Standard disclaimers apply.

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
hakken da

 

The shadow leapt, undaunted by the severe lack of light in the region, across the freshly made crater. He didn't quite make it, reaching terminal velocity right smack in the middle of the large hole instead and plummeted down with impressive speed. To nobody's surprise, he landed softly on the large thing jutting out of the cleared land and gently somersaulted off onto ground zero.

Admist the silence of the night, only the flapping of his large, weathered cape could be heard.

He turned around noiselessly, facing the rock-like structure and giving it a few quick pats.

"Haven't seen you in a while." The stranger, true to his current identity, spoke strange words. A moment of respite hung over the unlikely pair, the structure staying in it's place and the stranger making waving motions with his hands, as if trying to scrub the ancient dust off from it's surface. As his movements got slower and slower, he turned to look behind him, noticing a presence other than his own.

In the darkness, under the glow of the blue moon of Gaia, it was not hard at all to recognize the spikey-headed mercenary stepping away from the shadows (as if it did anything to help camouflage him in the first place, ha ha. XD), weapon sheathed and armour equipped, as if ready to strike anytime.

Which wasn't necessarily untrue, depending on how things eventually worked out, of course. Wasn't that always the case?

The stranger whipped around fully to face the mercenary, resting his gloved left hand on the artifact Adel had left behind. His cape spread out from beneath him, making it hard to catch his feet, which were enshrouded in shadows. "You're pretty brave to be coming out here alone." He commented blandly, with a barely visible smile playing on his lips.

"I didn't count on running into someone else." Cloud replied, equally blandly. Of course, his well-prepared battle gear did wonders to accentuate that point. He narrowed his eyes to carefully consider the person in front of him.

"Ipsen, am I right?" He finally asked, when he could stand the silence no longer.

The man did not answer, nor did he move.

"Yes? No?" Cloud pushed on, speaking louder than just now. Annoyed at the continual quietness, he took a wide step forward, meaning to confront the man up close. As soon as he did that, however, the stranger moved slightly, withdrawing his hand on the structure and reaching into his cape to retrieve something. Imagining he was intimidated by his actions, the spikey-headed mercenary halted, but continued to stare and hope that the stranger would answer his unanswered question. He noticed a flicker of light from within the fingers of the stranger, just before the stranger tossed the item directly into Cloud's face.

Owing to his well-trained reflexes, Cloud caught the item just before it thwacked him on the forehead. He brought his hand down to examine it, and decided that it looked kind of like a well-polished, newly minted coin. Clasping it gently in his hands he looked up to question the stranger again but was disappointed, although not really surprised, to find that the stranger had already disappeared into a wisp of smoke.

Although still unhappy at being ignored, Cloud slowly made his way towards the artifact, taking the time to think back about the events of the day instead. Adel had left with her wingdings, and the artifact which she claimed would make her supreme!... or something like that, was left in the middle of the crater she had made with that wild meteorite summon. The rest of the day went by in a flurry of events, as the king popped out from nowhere and made the most fantastically un-understandable speech Cloud had ever heard in his whole life which, wonder of wonders, had many Galbadians cry swearing loyalty to the kingdom forever.

There were cheers, applause and general chaos as the crowd cleared from the palace. Still dazed, the foursome were approached by the king with his sincere gratitude, although they weren't exactly sure whatever for. Regarding the artifact as taboo or something, the king decreed that nobody, not even guards, were to near it. Then in another sweep of confounding events, the foursome were rested into their rooms and before they knew it, the whole thingamajig they were supposed to be helping the king with was... all in all, over.

Cloud sweatdropped at the mere thought of it, closing his eyes in disbelief. He took a quick glance at the artifact, decided that the glyphics inscribed on it wasn't worthed his attention - at least not yet, and fell flat on his back onto the chunky ground.

Once again, the stars seemingly beckoned at him with their twinkles. Their light reminded him of the item he had received from the stranger, which was resting in his hand at the moment. Bringing it closer to his face, he examined it.

Yeah, no bones about it. It was a freshly minted, well-polished silver coin. It had a magical feel to it, as well as a magical glow. Cloud flipped the coin back and forth, noticing it's design. On the one side it was smooth and cool - void of engravement other than the thin rim of circumference given it as it were given most coins. On the other side, however, there was a name.

A name Cloud somehow felt intensely towards.

"Interesting." A voice drifted into his ears from the distance, along with the sound of nearing footsteps. Squall's shadow fell over him while he still had the coin in his outstretched arm, and the young SeeD blinked as he bent over and read the inscription on the flip-side of the coin. "Ipsen... again." The morose teenager mulled. He straightened himself and scanned the terrain. "So, where is he?" He asked, none-too amiably.

In quick succession, Cloud tossed the coin into the air and sat up, catching the coin in its descend as he did. Bending one knee, he draped an arm over it and looked up at the teenager, still scanning the area for the now-gone Ipsen. "He's gone already," the older mercenary mentally shrugged, "and he left this coin behind."

Squall turned and glanced at Cloud, who was holding out the coin with his hand and beckoning for the former to take a look. He complied and took the coin up to investigate.

After a while, he returned the coin to Cloud and shrugged, sitting down as well.

As they mulled over their individual problems, Cloud spoke up. "I would ask you what you're doing here at this time in the night," he began with a wry smile, "but you'd just ask the same of me."

"Ditto." Squall folded his arms and continued staring into nothingness.

There was a pause.

"I came to look at the artifact." The dark-haired teenager turned to look at Cloud. "I thought I could find some clues about ............. ...nevermind." He looked away as abruptly as that sentence ended.

For a long time, it was just Cloud staring at Squall and Squall staring at the skies.

Then, Cloud stood up and dusted the sand off his pants, walking away from the by-now silently thoughtful teenager and towards the strange structure. If Squall had something to hide, or something he could not talk about, then he might as well let the boy be, Cloud was thinking to himself. Turning his attention to the structure might yield more results, too.

As expected, the large structure was a jutty, rough and tough piece of rock, looking to be as ancient as the days itself, but in truth was not very possible to be so. It had not been wholly dislodged from the ground, revealing only perhaps the upper part of it's full body - or perhaps even less. Upon closer examination, Cloud could make out an unusual light peering curiously at him as he did at it, from under the dirt. Intrigued, he continued dusting at the structure until a flash of gentle jade caught his attention and stopped him.

The light it emitted was lulling... as if this thing... it had a life of it's own... There was a strange sort of flicker from within it's bowels, as it beckoned at the onlookers belligerently. Cloud blinked, not at all interested in green. There was something not too right about this whole thing. He retreated instinctively, away from the structure.

"?" went the clueless SeeD, who had been busy scuffing his feet around the soil. "What's up?" He raised an eyebrow at Cloud's actions, then turned to look at the ancient thing with a pale gleam of revealed green from where Cloud had been dusting.

"Heeeeey..." the dark-haired teenager stood up, as he recognized something about the structure Cloud apparently had not. "... isn't this-"

At that precise moment, a sharp gust of sudden wind, icy and cold, sent a chill up both their spines, putting an abrupt stop to all conversation. Dead as it already was, the air now stirred up with the pungent smell of something more than death itself. The rattling of withered leaves resounded throughout the peopleless lands, threatening to deafen those who are still awake to hear of it. Squall gulped involuntarily - and from the corner of his eye he could see that his companion wasn't feeling all too well either.

All they could tell, though, was that something very, very bad was approaching.

Suddenly, Cloud darted into the darkness, keeping himself out of sight from whatever was approaching. Squall didn't have to ask to be right there beside him, trying to keep as unnoticable as it was biologically possible. They both peered out from behind their wall of safety, amidst the howling winds that sliced the atmosphere up in all directions.

It was getting closer and closer.

\-------------------------------

"Zidane?" Kuja rubbed his eyes sleepily, looking at the genome who stood a few feet away with his back facing him. "What are you doing?"

Slowly, Zidane turned to look at the silver-haired man, with a look that could have frozen him 10 times over.

"You can see me." Zidane spoke, without moving his lips. He didn't seem like he was asking a question. A funny quirk of his lips occurred, the only sign of life he had displayed since just now. "This mortal avatar is beginning to weaken. Looks like time is not being too kind on me..."

A burst of broken wings erupted from Zidane's back, spreading it's featherless joints outwards and then wrapping inwards to hide it's owner. In a whirl of shimmering darkness, the tail-boy disappeared from his original standing place.

"Zidane?!" Kuja stood up quickly and turned in all directions. "Where are you going?" He asked.

Taking the silence to be a reply to search, he began to run. He ran, ran and ran, towards what he thought would be a destination but never really beginning or even reaching, only stopping when he heard a muted cry of quiet despondancy...

*... this darkness is eternal... wake up, Kuja, don't keep falling!*

\-------------------------------

Kuja sat up with a start.

Gasping for breath, he put a hand to his forehead, hoping this little action would clear his head and put him in a better position to be thinking.

"What was that?" He asked himself quietly, eyes still boggled with intensity, a mere hint of what Kuja had just witnessed from the dark recesses of his mind. His breath refused to be caught, as he curled his fists tightly into balls and then slowly relaxed them, repeating this for as long as it took for him to calm down.

Was what he just saw in his dreams... his imagination?, or someone's manipulation?

The window beside his room flung open in reply, forced to do so by the hostile winds from outside. The unbinded curtains flared upwards, as the rain slowly, but surely, fell onto the land in an eerie overture.

The silver-haired man had eyes wide-opened, the streak of lightning serving only to enhance the serious glint of realization in his eyes.

In another while, the bed was empty - with overturned sheets telling of nothing but a hasty departure.

\-------------------------------

It approached in the form of a shadow - with no depth, and no end.

Dissolving into the rocks, and re-emerging at the bottom of the crater, the formless gloom twisted and turned until it stood right next to the structure with the pale green glow. It stretched into a face of eternal despair, then into a body of prying arms. For a while it continued to repeat this cycle, emulating various parts of the human body until it began to spiral around itself. The thick darkness soon thinned, and in it's place stood a mortal man. When the shadow finished spiralling into non-existence, the man - the boy, with his body, tail and all, opened his eyes.

Cloud and Squall craned their necks in disbelief, agape with horror.

Zidane - or someone; something that looked like Zidane, stretched his hand out and touched the structure. For a long time his hand remained there, as did his expressions remain ominous.

Yet, nothing happened.

Withdrawing his hand, the monkey-boy blinked slowly.

"Not yet..." he whispered in a ghostly voice, "... not yet..." He clasped his hand into a fist, while remaining expressionless, death brimming about in his lifeless irises. "Where... where is the final destiny? How does one go to it... ?"

Cloud turned to look at Squall, who raised an eyebrow and merely shrugged. They had no idea whatever this guy was talking about.

A huge noise from the edge of the crater attracted their attention, when a large boulder dislodged and tumbled it's way into the crater with fanfare. When the smoke cleared, Cloud winced visibly and Squall managed to close his eyes and mumble something to himself. It wasn't hard to recognize the shape of the figure who had stomped the boulder down now, was it?

"You want to go to your final destiny?" The ex-villain was surprisingly, or maybe not - considering the amount of villainous speeches he was obliged to make during his era, loud and clear. "I can take you there, pal." He glowered, visibly unhappy. "Get out of Zidane right now and we'll talk." The silver-haired man pointed.

Squall's voice caught in his throat, although he had meant to ask Cloud something. For now, his attention was so affixed on the current situation that it seemed impossible for him to be able to ask anyone anything, anyway. He forced his raging doubts back, contenting himself with just watching.

It appeared that nothing had happened since the time that elapsed between the last sentence Kuja spoke and until he had gathered his thoughts together, just now. Zidane hadn't even moved a single muscle to at least turn to look at Kuja.

How long was the silence going to last... ?

"Did you hear me you brainless monkey!" Kuja yelled again, temper growing. As it was, he hated to be ignored.

Zidane suddenly shifted his weight a bit. He slowly spun around to meet Kuja's gaze with his own.

Gone, was the playful boy whose tail twitched at every move of the wind. Instead, Zidane's tail now hung low, devoid of movement, sweeping itself along with the ground as if it was just a lifeless extension. As he slowly lifted his half-lidded eyes to consider Kuja, not a single ray of moonlight bounced off his large, unblinking eyes. It was heartrending to see a friend being reduced to a state like this - especially when it was clear it was not of his own will.

Kuja hesitated - but only for a while. This was indeed a nightmare coming true for him, and he was not going to stand by and do nothing. He leapt, hovered, and landed on the area in front of Zidane, who remained unmoving, staring long and hard into his eyes.

"You will fight your friend?" The disembodied voice of someone not Zidane echoed into the region.

The man rose to his feet, hands ready for a spell.

"I twice tried to kill him." He whispered sharply, as if sharing a secret with the mysterious being inside of the boy. "Does it matter for me to try thrice?"

Frowning slightly, 'Zidane' didn't take too well to those words. He bent his knee and was preparing to jump into the shadows again when Kuja's hand caught him by his neck and held him there. He didn't even have leeway to cough and gasp for breath. Kuja was stronger than he looked and had an iron grip that was also, unfortunately, overlaid with a spell ready to blow you up should you resist.

"Destroy the host, destroy the parasite." He said simply, tightening his grip. "Easy, no?"

Zidane gacked, managing to peel an eye open to look at Kuja with fierce determination. Knowing that this wasn't Zidane didn't help much. There was a time when Kuja would crush the boy with no second thoughts, but that time was long gone. He wouldn't be able to do anything more than what he had already done. He just hoped that thing inside Zidane wouldn't find that out. He just hoped Zidane wouldn't chop his tail off when this ordeal was finally over. He hoped many things, but the darkness within Zidane was not granting him them. Kuja closed his eyes in a frown, angry and frustrated at... himself...

Opening his eyes to glare into the eyes of the Eternal Darkness, Kuja suddenly offered a queer question.

"Why don't you take me instead?"

The look on Zidane's face turned thoughtful, traces of chagrin out of the window the very moment Kuja said those words.

"If only it was as easy as you beings make it out to be." He quickly returned to being impassionate again, raising up both his hands to touch the arm Kuja was using to grip him. "Then I would not be tussling with menial affairs with you here, now.

"Seek the sorceress who knows, and we all will get what we want," Zidane closed his eyes, "the will to live never ceases to amaze me..."

Shadows churned from beneath the ground Kuja had Zidane held up in, twisting in a familiar ritual around the boy, evolving into the same wings Kuja had seen in the darkness and then curling up and disappearing into the boy. Unsure of what was really happening, Kuja held still, waiting for a reaction from Zidane.

Of course, he didn't have to wait too long.

"ACK!!!!!" Zidane coughed loudly, face paling dramatically. "KUJA, what in the two moons do you think you're doing?! LET GO! I CAN'T BREEEE-"

Kuja's lips immediately quirked into a funny smile, when he heard Zidane say that. He had never felt so relieved in all his life. The grip on Zidane loosened, and the monkey-boy fell to the ground as Kuja stiffled giggles, then covered his mouth because of the laughter threatening to explode from within him. Somehow, this whole thing felt like a big joke. A big joke he should laugh over. Something they should all laugh over. Oh yes, it was a very big joke indeed.

While still panting desperately, the monkey-boy threw the older man a rather befuddled look. What in the world? This wasn't the first time he was being threatened by assaults of strikes and spells, but this WAS the first time he seriously felt like he was going to die. He swished his tail around lots, noticing the amount of soil he had on it (funny, he never quite allowed the tail to touch the ground when he walked), pouting as he did.

"Okay, I think I missed something important again. Mind filling me in?" He beckoned at Kuja, who was, unfortunately, still laughing. Skid.

"Cloud, Squall?" He turned to the spot where he could sense two other beings hiding. "Don't bother hiding, I know you're there." He grinned dangerously.

A while later, the duo shifted out sheepishly, trying not to look into Zidane's eye so they didn't have to explain anything. The thief was, of course, unhappy with the hostility. By this time, Kuja had stopped laughing though, so all eyes turned to him instead. The ex-villain cleared his throat.

"Nothing Zidane." He was impressively emotionless. "Now, do you mind?" He made a sweeping movement, meaning to tell Zidane to get out of the way, which he did. He then made his way towards the structure, touching the greenish part of it, pondering about it's existence very much.

"What has this thing got to do with the sorceress?" His voice was sombre.

"Nothing much." Squall replied, amazed at how fast Kuja switched wavelengths. "I think this thing is a core part of what became the Lunatic Pandora - which strengthens the pull between this planet and it's moon, causing the Lunar Cry. Apparently, though, it was first discovered in Centra... maybe this is just an offshoot?"

"An offshoot that has not been initialized, I can see that..." Kuja felt around the structure like his hands had sensors installed that could test for reactions within the thing. Zidane got bored and sleepy and decided to sit down to lean against the huge boulder Kuja was examining, still miffed at being ignored. He began drawing circles on the ground.

"........" went Cloud - who wanted to discuss what 'Zidane' had said about seeking the sorceress out just now, but was afraid to do so in Zidane's presence. Digging his hands into his pockets for SOMETHING to do at least, he felt the presence of a smooth, polished coin. "Oh yeah..." he retrieved the coin and flipped it into the air so that it's gleam would be visible for all. "Some wise guy left this coin behind - I don't know, maybe it's a clue." He tossed it into Kuja's general direction.

The man caught it with grace and accuracy.

So accurate, the earth itself trembled with impact.

"Well look..." Zidane suddenly said in a trance-like voice, causing all his companions to groan internally. "... so the final destiny was closer to me than I thought it was..."

They only had enough time to glance at the weird marking of circles and semi-arcs Zidane had doodled on the sand before the world phased forward like a chocobo high on dead peppers.

 

\-------------------------------  
hakken datta  
2/4/2002


	18. Chapter 18

Standard disclaimers apply.

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
kaette kuru

 

"It's raining..."

Cloud looked up from the book he was reading at the sound of his mother's voice. The latter was staring out of the window at the gentle shower while in the midst of preparing dinner.

Turning to do the same, the young boy watched the rain fall on the window pane, gently... softly...

"So it is..." He muttered quietly, to nobody in particular. Reaching down to slap the book shut so he could shelve it and go rest while dinner was being made, Cloud was slightly miffed to find that the book wasn't on his lap, where it should been.

In it's place, were two thick folders, bulging with paperwork waiting to be perused.

For a moment Cloud simply stared at them, stumped.

From the distance, he could hear the sounds of raindrops from a heavy shower.

"It's raining..." The voice caused him to snap up and look for its' source. Right across the lobby sat the man he once - and perhaps... still, respected. The silver-haired general was looking out of the window contemplatively, his thoughtful pose accentuated by the gloved hand under his chin.

Following Sephiroth's glance, Cloud blinked at the sight of rain in Midgar, glad that he was on the plates, not under them. Even the slight shower appeared to bring a happier mood to the dark city.

"So it is..." Cloud found himself repeating, to nobody in particular. Turning on his heels, he was about to march out of the lobby to wherever he had been headed for when he brought himself to a dead stop.

Tifa stood not a few feet ahead of him, straw hat and all. She had her hands clasped gently behind her back and seemed to be rocking gently to the tune she was humming.

*This isn't real.* The blond mercenary decided, and brought a hand up to give his eyes a good wipe, perhaps hoping that it would somehow clear away the illusion. He found it rather hard to reach his face, though, and only realized why when he felt around his head and discovered that he was wearing the Shinra trooper helmet, veil and all.

He stiffened slightly when Tifa turned around. She didn't appear to have noticed him, as she simply tilted her eyes upwards and stared at the sky.

"It's raining..." She said quietly.

More than mystified by now, Cloud turned and looked at the sky as well, wincing slightly when the tears of the heavens touched his exposed skin. It was a slightly heavy rain, the kind that always hung around Nibelheim at this time of the year.

"So it is..." He couldn't stop the words from coming out of his mouth. He blinked, a sudden jab of pain surging through his head. He could now feel the rain dropping heavily on his body, even his supposedly protected head. Fatigue and fever overwhelmed him. He felt like his eyes were on fire, burning right into his very essence. It had been a long time since he remembered feeling pain so bad... so bad that he would have wanted to die but was powerless to do so.

Disorientation set in. Cloud decided that he was now very confused. Indeed. What was his number anyway?

The whirling sound of the engine stopped, and through his stupor he could hear voices. When it sounded as if the people had gone all quiet, Cloud heard a soft, gentle voice speak, almost whispering, from beside him.

"It's raining..."

A sudden wave of energy passed through Cloud, and he didn't feel quite so sick anymore. He wondered briefly if he could bonk Zack on his head for that statement.

Then he suddenly realized that he never would have a chance.

He never did had a chance.

The world receded into darkness, leaving him standing on its planes.

It was raining.

But there was no sound.

A bell sounded in the distance, attracting his attention. At first he could only hear the lonely chime of a solitary bell... as it rang... rang... rang... Just when he thought he had gotten used to eerie ringing, another bell chimed - further in the background. He blinked, because he then heard another, that was nearer this time. In all directions, bells awoke, as if from a deep slumber. Cloud did not know what they were ringing for - nor did he have time to think about it. Flapping of wings could now be heard, accompanied by the massive influx of a bird on a wild shedding spree.

Blinded by the black and white feathers flirting with his personal space, it was only after long that the mercenary managed to sweep most of the irritable things out of his sight to be able to see ahead.

The sky was dark still.

In front of him stood a girl, her head bent and shoulders shivering, as if in pain. She was dressed in light blue, and had the curious design of a pair of white wings painted across the back of her outer garment.

Cloud was not one to consciously pride himself on sharpness, but as he kept looking, he thought he could see... the pair of wings phasing between the two extremes of light and dark. At her feet lay feathers of the colours black and white.

The first person he connected her with was Squall. For some reason.

But when she turned around like she had noticed his presence, the darkness invaded once more; throwing him back into the time when... yeah, he remembered now. The time when Zidane (or at least, the entity that lives in him) threw them all into time compression - apparently more violently than he ever had.

When the world suddenly became a void, Cloud had slipped and fell into it right immediately.

One more scan of the surroundings confirmed Cloud's fears.

"Looks like I'm trapped somewhere in time." He shrugged, to nobody in particular.

"I'm glad you realize that," a voice suddenly spoke out. Unfazed, Cloud merely looked straight ahead, at whoever had spoken.

A long period of silence followed.

"You don't seem like you're interested in getting out of this fix at all." The voice remarked, sounding slightly amused.

Taken aback, Cloud could only generically respond with a, "... Not really..."

He sighed.

"I'm just not sure... about alot of things..."

At that, the voice chuckled. Yet there was no scorn or satire in it's tone. It waited for Cloud to continue.

"I just went through the past again." Cloud eventually did continue, clenching his fist at the recollection. "I keep thinking... that if the past reflects the future, then perhaps it would be better to just keep... staying... where I am... It doesn't matter... I don't have to answer to anyone..."

He could feel curious eyes on him - although the darkness was not supposed to have a form.

"But if you don't understand your past," the voice suddenly spoke out, "then you can never build your future."

"... I don't need to." Cloud frowned. "The past means nothing to me." He muttered, bitterness evident in his tone.

"... Perhaps the future means nothing to you as well?" The voice paused for a moment, then asked.

The blond mercenary glanced to his side, wanting to do anything but look straight.

"Perhaps." He answered, after a long silence.

"What are you contending with?" The voice continued after him, seemingly sensing some inner conflict within the distracted mercenary.

"Why are you asking so many questions?" Cloud could feel his nerves being gotten on. He narrowed his eyes warily.

For a while, he thought he could hear a telepathic sigh over the air waves. That idea was dismissed soon enough, though.

"Because the road of a hero is not as easy as so many people think it is."

Cloud perked up - if only a little, at that statement, which appeared to be important. While he waited for the unknown entity to continue, a bright flash ahead got him to turn his head and stare at the quickly dissolving ball of piercing light. Without warning the light exploded. The spikey-headed mercenary quickly threw both his arms up to shield himself from the naked glare of the light, only daring to put them down after it seemed to have reduced to a reasonable level of brightness for sight. He almost gasped at the scene he beheld.

A magically woven path arced forward from his feet straight onwards, then split into a million million other paths which led into the unseeable gloom of darkness. The bright paths continued splitting from where they had originally split and traversed the width and height and length and depth of the area. They did not appear to be stopping, for as Cloud continued gazing, the paths kept splitting, some even bending backwards to pass through him himself.

Somehow he knew this whole scene could not be real... yet somehow he could not help but feel pressurized by it.

"Where do you stand," the voice asked, while the paths continued cutting their way through the darkness, "in the paths and processions of what has come to pass and what will yet come to be?

"If one starts from his view, one walks the road of a hero - but if one has not a view, one loses the way to walk in... Understanding your past is critical to creating the future - especially in a world where all time is one time, all sky is one sky, and all rain... is one rain..."

"I don't understand." Cloud muttered. "I'm not a hero, anyway." He sighed, sick of that title to no end.

"No, you are," he could almost hear the voice smile, "we all are... we are heros of our own stories, heros of our own time, heros to those who trust us and heroes to those who care...

"Walk in the road of a hero, Cloud," a flash of bright silver crossed his vision, but not lingering long enough for him to fully comprehend what was happening.

"Perhaps you will do better than I did..."

The paths spun, around and around, until they twisted out of existence and threw Cloud back into the backdrop of a dark, gloomy sky.

The rain slammed hard on him.

*Do you know, that this is the same rain that fell, all those times many years ago... ?*

Lifting his face, and closing his eyes to allow the rainstorm to hit, a strange feeling encompassed the blond mercenary. It felt stranger than the trickle of cool, wet drops that rolled down his forehead and off his cheek - and yet he welcomed it with all his heart. Unfolding his fingers so that his palms could catch the rain as well, Cloud continued taking in the spirit of scene.

*... Where do you stand... ?*

He could hear the voice echo around him.

*And where should you go to?*

*... perhaps, to someone you can find it in your heart to answer their simple comment about this eternal rain... ?*

As he slowly felt the presence of the voice disappear, he frowned.

*The past doesn't matter..." He thought to himself, confused beyond compare by the little period spent with the mysterious darkness just now.

*... does it?*

He opened his eyes just in time to hear a tired Squall sighing.

"It's raining..."

He said.

Cloud put a hand to his forehead, pulling the tattered piece of wet cloth away while sitting up slowly, trying to adjust to the environment.

He glanced at where Squall was glancing, at the ever familiar rain.

"... Tell me about it..." His heart warmed up at the sight of something else but darkness. At the same time, he flung the piece of cloth at the occupied teenager.

When the cloth hit, and the dark-haired teenager turned from looking out of the window, he managed to stay completely calm for a good 3 seconds, before opening his mouth to almost shriek. "Cloud! You're awake!"

"Yes..." Cloud murmured incoherently. For now he felt like his entire head was an egg on an over-heated sauce-pan - thinking about things made his brain do flip-flops upside down. He stifled a groan.

"What happened?" He managed to sluggishly ask after adjusting to the light in the room. Squall had dragged the roller-seat from it's previous location near the window to a table somewhere near the bed Cloud was lying in. After settling down, he looked up at the blond mercenary and blinked.

"We fast-forwarded." Squall said, leaning backwards on the creaky chair. "Time played tricks on us again."

"Oh," Cloud muttered under his breath, moving very slowly as he did. "Zidane and Kuja?" He asked about the first thing that came to his mind.

"Um..." Squall looked away, nervously twiddling with his fingers, trying to look unconcerned. "... They... um..."

Sensing something wrong, Cloud leaned forwardly quickly, meaning to demand Squall to speak up. Unfortunately, his head was not being too kind to him, and instead of looking menacing, he ended up writhing in pain with a skull-splitting headache instead.

"Woah, calm down man!" Squall panicked considerably to jump out of his chair. "You're still kindda weak..."

"Wha- what happened to them?" Cloud managed to ask, through gritted teeth. At this point of time he would rather bang his head on the wall than suffer from this here-and-not bout of Mako poisoning. Still, he wanted to know what happened to the others.

Squall put a gloved hand on his forehead, succeeding in looking really really bothered. He slid it down so that only his closed eyes were visible, and stifled a sigh.

"They... They're...

"... they're in the cafeteria, cooking up... something... for you..."

The world stopped spinning immediately.

"Say that again, please?" Cloud said in a small voice.

Putting both his hands on his hips, Squall turned to look at the ceiling, biting his lower lip and twitching tremendously.

"Zidane and Kuja are in the cafeteria, cooking - or trying to cook, something... that's supposed to help break your fever..."

The crows-from-nowhere(TM hammerspace) flew across the room, from left to right, sqwaking loudly as they did.

"I have never felt better in my whole life!" Cloud leapt out of bed and stood, stretched and did warm-ups. "I don't think I need that wonderful thing they're brewing for me now, so why don't you show me the way to the cafeteria, Squall-boy?"

Bristling at the '-boy' suffice, Squall still managed to point at the only visible exit in the room, through an amazing amount of rubble and debris. "That way, just keep following the path until you see the sign that says 'Cafeteria'."

"Thank YOU!" Cloud smiled slightly, and bounded out of the room with unprecedented energy.

The blond-haired mercenary had barely reached the door Squall called out, "And, Cloud?"

The mercenary turned back to stare at the teenager, slight surprise evident in his Mako eyes.

"Thanks, for coming back to us man."

They stared at each other.

"Fancy that coming from you..." Cloud didn't know whether to be utterly honoured or completely horrified. Giving a slight small and a quick nod, he decided to take the words as they were. He turned and went out, but after a few steps he turned around again.

"By the way!" He almost grinned. "You have a really pretty girlfriend."

Leaving Squall gaping at those words, he turned down the empty corridors in search for the cafeteria before Zidane and Kuja blew it up.

 

\-------------------------------  
kaette kita  
19/4/2002


	19. Chapter 19

Standard disclaimers apply.

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
iseki da

 

As Cloud started down the corridor, he took a good look at the environment.

The place large and circular, with exits branching out from the common corridor to a deeper portion of the building. Cloud had come out from what he assumed to be the eastern part of the block and was currently rounding the path near the second exit in this part of the place. In the middle of the large room, to his right, was a tall cylindrical tube-like thing which looked strangely like an enclosed elevator Shinra used to use at Junon. Maybe it was, he wouldn't know. Nevertheless, he trudged silently down the hallways, his boots producing large sounds which echoed off the walls of the building, emphasizing the emptiness.

The blond mercenary stopped at a battered sign which hung outside one of the paths which led to an exit.

He read it.

"Balamb Garden..."

His eyes scrolled down to the next line.

"... Quad."

Lightning flashed overhead, through the translucent glass panels of the Garden, followed by a fantastic peal of thunder.

"Welcome to my school." Squall's cryptic voice mumbled from behind Cloud, making him nearly jump out of his skin. The rain now beat down harder on the building, making minor sounds hard to pick up. Cloud turned around anyway, to stare at the SeeD standing behind him.

In answer to Cloud's questioning eyes, Squall merely shrugged.

The blond mercenary then turned his head away from the rusty sign, parched with age, to look at the surroundings once again.

Undoubtedly, this could have been a rather beautiful place, with nice shades of gold and blue dominating it's interior design. However, that was all gone, as far as the eye could see. In it's place were faded colours of yellow and maroon, glaring sullenly at the onlooker. The sturdy floors looked absolutely underused - for a long long time. The wrinkled walls curled up to reveal their underlying structure, festered with insects trying to build their homes into it.

The building was broken. It was in total ruins.

"... This is your school?" Cloud tried not to sound too incredulous. "The Garden you told us all about... ?"

Squall barely managed to pull off a shrug. He sighed, turning to rest his hands on the railings of rusted gold which circled perfectly around the center elevator area.

They were reduced to a miserable silence, the sound of the rain beating down on the Garden's roof panels the only interference.

"Hey," Cloud suddenly spoke out softly, almost in a whisper, "you can still show us around, you know. Maybe this place hasn't changed as much as it appears to have..."

He was bluntly cut short by an explosion from behind him.

"Too much flour, Zidane!"

"Yes, sir!"

The smoke from the explosion gradually dissipated into the air, and both mercenaries could hear loud metal sounds drifting to their ears from the cafeteria region. It was frighteningly obvious that they absolutely did not want to know what Zidane and Kuja were currently cooking up in the cafeteria at all.

"..." went both.

The blond-haired mercenary then blinked and said, "Dinner... can wait."

His companion agreed, almost immediately.

"I could show you around, like, now?" Squall was decidedly more enthusiastic than he was just now. He began a brisk walk forward, pointedly ignoring the cafeteria and the metallic noises the kitchen utensils inside were making, not even bothering to check if Cloud was following him. "Skipping the all-glorious cafeteria, where hotdogs used to rule, the next exit in the Garden would lead to the dormitories, where gossips, news, and rumours spread like an infested grapevine..."

The leader of SeeD finished his factual commentary and stopped at the sign which read "Balamb Garden - Dormitory".

He stared at the entrance for a while, re-living the memories of his everyday life in the quiet Dorm rooms, re-playing every single moment he had in his time when the world was still peaceful, and the Garden was still the home to the many colourful people he had met and known. He took a step forward, meaning to go into the Dormitories proper but jolting to a stop without really knowing why.

A dull pain hung over his heart. He usually associated this pain with regret of some sort - but over what, he had no idea...

He heard footsteps walking past him, and when he turned to look he saw that Cloud had already gone ahead of him and was strolling casually down the corridor with slow and deliberate steps. He thought of calling out for the blond to stop so they could explore the ruined dorms together, but something held him back from doing that. Instead, he quietly caught up with his companion and together they walked down the rounded corridor, past the parking lot, until Cloud came to a stop in front of the training ground.

He spun around.

"You don't have to follow if you don't want to."

He smiled, slightly.

"I can only imagine how it feels to walk down the destroyed corridors of a place that used to be your home."

A pause.

".......... it's okay, really..." The moody teenager blinked and replied, trying hard to repress his sigh. "... I just... never really realized how much I missed this place until I came here again..."

The ex-SOLDIER(-wannabe??) let his glance rest on the thoughtful teenager, trying to guess what he could say to be of some help in bringing Squall out from the abyss of dark discerns.

"Do you miss her?" He suddenly asked, without really thinking.

The SeeD shifted his weight and curiously stared at Cloud. "Miss who?"

"That girl, Rinoa - the one you kept droning on and on about when we first picked you up in the Sleeping Forest." Cloud's brilliant grin did nothing to help stop the teenager from developing a sudden blush. He looked away uncomfortably.

"........... sure......" He muttered after a long while of staring at nothing. "She made me realize... alot of things about myself and the people around me I wouldn't have otherwise..." Breaking off, he stole a glance at the entrance to the Training Center, trying not to remember but failing rather badly. "I took her on a tour around the Garden once too... And frankly speaking I suck at being a tour guide. She had to prompt me most of the time." He allowed a little snicker to escape from his mouth. Then he noticed that Cloud was staring at him with a bemused expression. "What?"

"Oh, nothing, really." The blond almost laughed out loud when he said that. "I can just imagine you bringing a girl to fight monsters on your first date." He flashed a purposeful grin and pointed to the entrance of the training ground. "Like here."

"Right." Squall rolled his eyes. "What's wrong with bringing girls to fight monsters? They can kick really hard if they want to, you know."

There was a chuckle.

"What, you too?" The SeeD turned his lips upwards slightly at the blond-haired mercenary, who blinked at looked at him weirdly.

"Me too what?" He asked, befuddled.

"You chuckled just now, I'm assuming that's because you've had to face some girl power at one point of time or another." The dark-haired teenager nodded sagely.

"Girl-power, yes, but... I didn't chuckle."

There was silence.

"Are you sure?" The teenager turned his suspicious eyes on his companion.

"Sure I'm sure. I didn't hear anybody chuckling, either." The blond mercenary raised an eyebrow, quietly contemplating what was going on.

The pallid laughter rang out softly again, echoing around the Garden interiors, sounding like wind chimes in autumn. Squall turned in all directions, trying to pinpoint the origin of the sound, leaving Cloud confused as he apparently could not hear anything, besides the rain. Eventually, Squall's eyes rested upon the entrance of the training center.

At that, Cloud turned to look as well.

A blurry image of a girl stood there, looking behind her shoulders and playfully beckoning at her audience, before disappearing into the dimly-lit hallway of the training center. She had dark hair, and was dressed in light blue. The pair of white wings on the back of her overcoat were unmistakable.

"Rinoa..." Squall barely managed to gasp before jolting himself into a run, all common sense out of the window for the moment, causing Cloud to look at him like he was out of the world.

"Wait!" Cloud called out a little too late, as Squall had already disappeared into the dark hallway in pursuit of... something he couldn't see. After a while of gaping, he decided to give chase. No point staying and no point leaving a tempermental Squall alone. They had enough problems on their hands already.

In the distance, a shadowy figure watched until both the targets disappeared into the darkness, before slipping into the bank which used to hold water beneath both sides of the corridor, smiling sinisterly.

A little while later, the mysterious laughter rang out once more; this time tainted with mischief.

In the background, the chant of the succession of witches could be heard, singing silently in an eternal loop - as if they had been there from the beginning, and will be there to the end...

\-------------------------------

Zidane and Kuja both looked up at the same time, in a similar motion, cocking their ears to try to catch something. They then turned to look at each other, expressions stern.

"What was that?" Zidane asked, putting down the bowl of flour and eggs he had been busy beating. "It sounded like someone just laughed."

"Chuckled, Zidane, 'chuckle' is the right adjective for it." Kuja snottily corrected his fellow genome, ignoring the death glares he was earning from the tail-boy with his attitude. He, too, put down the basket of rotting fruits and vegetables and concentrated on the environment instead.

"There she goes again!" Zidane pointed at nowhere in particular, when the chuckle was repeated.

The silver-haired man frowned slightly. "And what makes you so sure it's a 'she' who's making all these noises?"

"Aw man! You know who you're looking at here?" Zidane spun around and posed, causing his older counterpart to immediately turn blue in the face. "It's the ladies' man Zidane! Of course I'd recognize a chick's voice immediately!"

Kuja groaned inwardly. *At least he kept THAT part of his old character intact.* Waving the comments aside, he picked up the basket of food once again and passed them to Zidane. "Forget it. It probably wasn't important. Anyway, just mix these stuff into that bowl you're beating and we'll heat it over a fire with some water... and the broth will be ready for feeding." A malicious grin spread over his features. "I've always wanted to test this mixture..." He mumbled meaningfully to himself under his breath.

For a 3rd time the laughter burst into their heads, forcing them to drop whatever hideous thing they were trying to cook. Immediately after the laughter they heard a song. A song that was familiar. It was sung in a language they did not understand, but in a tune they could recognize. It seemed to loop for an eternity, until the voices quietly faded into a murmur to the back of their minds.

They both looked up at the same time.

"Hubba mumba." Zidane was still in shock. "I'm not doing some funny prophesying thing again am I?"

Kuja pretended to stare out of the window. "Nope, land is still looking as barren as it was when we came. Rain is still pouring too. You didn't screw up, my boy, not this time." He grinned at the monkey. "Congratulations."

The boy looked away, annoyed. "So what just happened? That song... it was awfully familiar..."

"I know." Kuja stopped him halfway, a glint of recognition in his eyes. "I know this song... I used to hear it... read about it a lot..."

"What kind of language is fithos, lusec, wecos and vinosec anyway?" Zidane was more than miffed. He prided himself on being academically enabled, a skill he needed when talking to girls of all languages. This one utterly stumped him, though. He was hit in the forehead by a flying saucer tossed at him by Kuja.

"It's an anagram you idiot." He shook his head, mumbling the next sentence under his breath. "I can't believe we're related."

Rubbing his sore head, Zidane asked, "So do we still keep cooking something for Cloud, or... ?"

At this, Kuja frowned.

"Something doesn't feel right..."

"Nothing ever feels right to you, I'd bet." Zidane snorted. That earned him another flying saucer.

"Drop what you're doing, let's go find the others." Kuja was already strolling towards the exit of the cafeteria when he finished saying that. Zidane could only blink at the older man with bewilderment. Nevertheless he followed, not wanting to be left behind without instructions - for fear that he would end up blowing the entire cafeteria to bits. Also, like Kuja, he had a nagging feeling tugging the back of his head, telling him there was something wrong, and that he needed to do something about it.

As they started down the corridor towards the infirmary, the feeling of dread encompassed them whole.

They had a feeling they were already too late.

 

\-------------------------------  
iseki datta  
13/5/2002


	20. Chapter 20

Standard disclaimers apply.

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
mayou

 

"Rinoa!" Squall could not stop himself from yelling down the dark corridor. "RINOA??!" He ignored the shearing pain that was beginning to build up in his chest by shouting while running too fast. It all didn't seem to matter at that moment in time. All he wanted to do was to get a response from Rinoa - wherever she was in the centre.

Soon he found the entrance to the training centre. At that he quickly stopped to catch his breath, letting his eyes adjust to the gloomy darkness that was around him. With one hand on the entranceway he peered into the centre, letting his senses tell him where he last heard the voice drift from. This was it, he thought to himself, the only link I have right now that could lead me back to where I really belong...

At that there was laughter.

The voice was cold, and it numbed Squall's senses. When the voice laughed again he found a few beads of sweat rolling down his cheek, even though the centre was nowhere near stuffy. Forcing himself to calm down, and pushing the shrill warnings of danger his body was screaming at him, he took a few bold steps forward.

He tensed, but kept moving. The room had gotten considerably hotter. There was a wringing feeling on his neck he didn't quite understand. Every step he took continued to slow into a drag. But he could almost hear the giggles - he could almost taste the smile. All this while he had travelled in hope of this eventuality. He wanted to reunite with the ones who mattered to him. And now, just a few steps more could bring him to a conclusion. What was he waiting for? Why did his body refuse to obey his commands?

The darkness shimmered in a way he could not describe, accompanied by the soft, ringing sound of a laughter which resembled tinker bells. Before he could react a piercing light flashed from the bowels of the dark, leaving him no choice but to throw his arms over his eyes to protect them. In the midst of the chaos he felt a strong force grab his shoulders and pull him backwards, back from where he walked from, backwards from where he was walking to. He landed on his backside, and instinctively used his hands to cushion the fall. The light was no longer there, and neither was there the uncomfortable darkness.

What he saw was a creature of immense proportions, waving it's uncountable tentacles around with ease and perfection. Squall allowed a gasp to escape from his mouth - had he walked but two steps further he would have been swallowed whole by the hideous plant monster. He turned his head and saw Cloud beside him, sword drawn and readied.

"What do you think you're doing?!" The mercenary offered the teenager a curt glare - the best he could manage before the creature slammed one of it's tentacles down on the duo. A loud bang resulted and the impact shook the entire building, filling it with fearsome tremors. It was a mild advantage that it didn't appear to be mobile, so Cloud summoned the strongest blizzard spell in his arsenal, effectively sealing the monster's motions before turning around, intending to run while the creature was still in shock. He stopped when he noticed Squall's phased out look. "Squall!!" He practically screamed for attention.

The dark-haired teen continued to mope, his thoughts on a plane higher than the physical dimension. Cloud's forehead vessel glowed a bright red. He fished the first thing he had in his pocket - a random piece of fishbone (!??!) - and smacked it upside Squall's head.

The SeeD's head tilted to one side for a brief second, before he spun around and quite vehemently glared at the person who had just stuck a fishbone in his head. "........... ?!?!?!?"

"Thank you!" Cloud smiled inanely, obviously trying to mask his anger. "Now look in front of you, peanuts for brains!" He pointed at the front, half in exasperation.

At that precise moment in time the creature broke out of the ice prism and started wobbling around, as if trying to warm up. It let out a strong whiff of poisonous fumes from it's upturned flower mouth, hoping it would express it's indignance well enough. Unfortunately for the thing both mercenaries were well equipped with anti-poison accessories. The greenish fog only served to camouflauge the duo even better than the darkness had.

A moment of still silence proceeded to hang. The only noises was the silent purring of the creature who could not sense the presence of the others.

Without warning a shrill slicing sound burst from the creature's left, effectively severing a considerable amount of it's arms. In response the creature collected it's other arms and twisted it into a singular attack at whatever had struck it. It never had the chance, for another attack from the right rendered it limbless. A flash of blue was ahead of it. There was nothing more it could do as the tip of the ultima weapon dived into the core of it's existence.

Cloud breathed, wondering if he should remove the blade before the blue stuff oozing out of the creature wore down the ultima weapon somehow. In a moment, the creature slumped to the ground motionless, giving him the cue to retreat, which he did. Squall emerged from the darkness he had blended in with to sneak-attack the creature, gunblade poised regally on his right shoulder, as he examined the damage. Both of them silently pondered their predicament.

Light suddenly filled the training centre - an ancient building being given life after all the time it stood alone in the wilderness.

And dark feathers; the colour of midnight, streamed steadily down from an unknown source. It was a mesmerizing sight, to say the least. Yet it communicated nothing but fear, sorrow, and an unsatiable despair.

The creature dissolved into a puddle of crystal clear blue. From it's midst arose a figure garbed in red.

The first glint of recognition flashed in Squall's eyes. "You!!" He managed to gasp, while pointing at the figure.

While his companion turned to look at the both of them, back and forth, before finally nodding at the figure in red. "Yeah... you."

Ignoring Cloud's unintelligent attempt to imitate him, Squall positioned his gunblade at the stranger and spat, "What are you doing here, Ultimecia?! What do you want now?"

The lady remained emotionless for a heartbeat, before melting into a charming, dangerous smile. "Time..." She mouthed, "... time is eternal... and so we will be should we compress it..."

"I don't know what you're talking abo-"

The dark-haired teenager was cut short with the spreading of Ultimecia's dark wings - as if the sorceress had not heard him, and if she had she did not care for his opinion. Her intense mood could be felt, and it thickened the atmosphere. Angrily she glanced at the duo in front of her. "Why... ?" She demanded, "... Why do you fight your destiny... and why do you fight mine?"

Carefully bringing her hands up to shield her face, as if protecting them was all she was left with to do now, the powerful sorceress shook her head gently.

"... so cold... so cold... so lifeless... lifeless... you left... you said you wouldn't... you left... why... ? Please come back... don't leave me behind... was it something I did... ?

"... Squall?"

Incredulously the SeeD stared at the evil sorceress. Did she just say his name?! He instinctively stepped forward to confront the person, but upon touching the blue goo that the defeated creature had melted into, he sank into a pit of oblivion faster than he thought was possible. Letting out a yelp of surprise, he struggled with the undercurrents of the swirl of nothingness he was falling slowly but surely into, at the same time noticing that Ultimecia was fading away, her hands still shielding her face.

Then, had Cloud not caught onto his hand while steadying himself with the ultima weapon stabbed deeply into the ground, Squall would have lost himself in time without knowing when he could possibly get out.

"What's wrong with you today?!" Cloud found himself asking despite knowing fairly well that he would not receive a coherent reply. "This is the second time you're walking wide-eyed into an obvious trap!"

"........................................" was Squall's retort, "... can you pull me up?" he asked, ignoring Cloud's outburst.

"I'm trying, as if it wasn't already so blatantly obvious!" The blond rolled his eyes. "Can you cast a float on yourself? It might help... the thing is sucking you in like quicksand."

Squall closed his eyes and tried. He opened them soon and shook his head with a straight face. "My junctions aren't working. I'm not sure what's happened. I think it's this void thing that's making magic fail."

"Well..." Cloud blinked and was currently looking at his feet. "... I would love to try to cast a float on you now but..."

Squall looked at what Cloud was looking at. He blinked as well.

The darkness had expanded to trap one of Cloud's foot in it. From an aerial point of view Squall would have swore this patch of intimidating nothingness was stretching out wider even as the both of them looked on.

Quietly, they turned to stare at one another.

Until a voice broke them out of their thoughts.

"Hey, both of you!"

It was Zidane, in his bright, perky, sunshine-inducing voice. Another set of footsteps was behind him, presumably Kuja - like who else was there in the building, right? They ran at top speed towards where their other two companions were, but were stopped short but a weak fire spell.

"Stand there! Don't move!" Cloud almost cursed at himself. There was something about this darkness that was threatening to swallow him that could seal up his magical abilities, and since it seemed to be widening out to include the entire training centre in general, might be a good idea to stop the two monkeys from falling into it as well. Pulling the ultima weapon out from the ground, which resulted in some residue of the thick black he was standing in to be dislodged too, Cloud frowned. He was really, at a total loss of what to do.

"What is this?" Kuja backed away from the thing that was spreading further and further, from where Cloud and Squall were.

"I wish I knew..." Squall was trying to shake his head free. "... I don't think I can hang on-"

Before he finished his words, he submerged whole into the ground.

There was silence.

Cloud looked at the other two who were looking at him with the same expression of wonder on his face, before sighing.

"Look, I don't think I'll be able to get out of this, so I'll just make my exit quick and go after the morose teen." He pointed resolutedly at the others still in the room. "You guys stay! Don't even think of stepping into this... this thing!" He wriggled around uncomfortably in the dark pool of goo. A few more seconds of staring later, he took a huge breath and made himself dive into the ground. The last of his spiky blond hair disappeared in a split second. The room was quiet once more.

Kuja rubbed his eyes in disbelief. What in the world?! It was true that diving into the darkness would be tantamount to suicide, but what good would it be to leave two behind while the two others went ahead and... died?!

He tried to walk forward, but was stopped by an abnormally strong force being laid upon his shoulder.

"Stop. Stand there. Don't be so eager to court death."

The voice was sombre, but familiar. As the load from his shoulder lifted he turned around with great dread locked in his heart.

He found himself staring into the undead eyes of the eternal darkness.

The expressionless face - the souless eyes... the dark shadow that hung over Zidane's very embodiment... Kuja thought he would never see it so close to him again, but now here it was... looking at him, looking into him - looking right through him.

"What about the truth behind your birth?" The person smiled cunningly, just for a split second. "Are you not interested in that?"

At a loss for words, Kuja could only stare as Zidane slowly regained his normal pigment and stared at the silver-haired man questioningly.

"What's with that look on your face?" The monkey boy raised an eyebrow at the other, noticing after a while that attention had been shifted to a spot somewhere beyond his shoulders.

A man stood where Kuja was looking at. A tall, white-haired old gentleman all clad in spacesuit black. The ruby red core at the center of his body glowered and faded consistently to indicate his presence. He had his attention focused on the Terran duo.

"Terra... I smell Terra... Such a long time since something alive smelt Terran..."

The soft glow of the corridor lent to making the features of the old man gentler than what Kuja had perceived him to be.

"Garland..." he whispered, half in disbelief, half in denial.

 

\-------------------------------  
mayotta  
11/6/2002


	21. Chapter 21

Standard disclaimers apply.

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
aoi sekai da

 

Zidane found him sitting opposite some bright blue tubes in the basement area of Bran Bal, with his hands clasped beneath his chin.

The silent churning of the generators in the room; the unnerving noises the bluish liquid was making as it bubbled upwards in the empty tube - all of these constructed an increasingly sad image in Zidane's mind. If he was his usual self he would slap Kuja on his back happily and dragged him out to hit on some girls. Yet as the tail-boy slowly made his way down the stairs which led to the room Kuja had taken to sitting in, he could gear himself up for no such thing. He couldn't even force himself to smile - it just seemed so impossible to.

Biting his lower lip in slight frustration at his inability to do much, Zidane hopped his way; as naturally as he could, to where Kuja was.

As he had expected, the silver-haired man did not so much as bat an eyelid at his noisy arrival. Even after crashing unceremoniously onto an available spot beside the quiet ex-villian, all the older genome did was to shift his weight so that he could broaden his personal space as much as the bench allowed him to.

They both stared in front, at the still blue tubes humming sullenly.

Until cold, hard footsteps disturbed their short-lived peace.

Both of them glanced up to see the dark-clad Garland descend the steps to the basement in that slow, regal way of his. Kuja quickly turned his glance back to the floor, while Zidane continued to stare as the man swept weightlessly across the floor until he came to a stop in front of tubes.

Zidane frowned.

When they had met the old man, he had directed them out of what used to be Balamb Garden - now transformed into a spunky looking airship repeatedly referred to by Mr. Garland himself as the Invincible; final prototype. Of course, Zidane credited all of that to the mysterious time decompression, which had obviously put the pair further into time. And in this time era, as he quickly learnt, Terra had transformed into a deathly quiet planet, where pods arose from the core of the bluish planet to serve as a resting place for the former citizens. Not a single soul could be seen, save himself, Kuja and that man of many poems, Garland.

The many times he had attempted to get some information from Garland had ended up in failure. The old man either ended up explaining some vastly unrelated theory about hibernation and nirvana or just kept so awfully silent Zidane would almost feel like tearing the man's beard out. Although he was sure this time wouldn't be an exception, the younger Genome got onto his feet and marched solemnly to where the taller man was standing.

"Hey Garland." He said in a loud voice which demanded attention. Garland turned to look at him, which he was glad for. "I'm not going to take up too much of your time if you don't start spurting philosophical blurbs. Would you mind explaining what in the world happened to Terra and why are you... well, why are WE the only ones left now?"

It was a question he had repeated from since they trailed the lofty old man to this place he introduced as Bran Bal. Of course, unless he got an answer to his doubts, Zidane was sure that he would keep asking.

And, as expected, Garland pointedly ignored him and turned to look at the tubes once more.

Zidane was then ready to unleash his full vocabulary of curses on the man who was getting on his nerves. Then he noticed something moving from within the tubes. He stared hard at the glimmer of silver, unable to determine who or what it was or represented, for it was only the size of a pea. "What the heck is this?!" Was the first thing to come out from his mouth when he realized he had a voice.

"The Angel of Death..." Garland spoke out, which surprised Zidane, who had not been expecting a reply, "... the one who shall be responsible for carrying out the purpose for which Terra sleeps and for which I was created..."

*BANG!*

There was a loud noise from behind the both of them as Garland revealed the secret behind the tube. Although Garland kept his attention on the so-called Angel, Zidane turned around just in time to see Kuja whisk away, stomping heavily on the organic floor. He disappeared from the basement as Zidane was about to call out to him.

".........." The monkey boy made the most exasperated face he had at the exit of the basement, perhaps believing Kuja could see it. Nevertheless, he turned back to Garland and said, "Sorry old man, would love to hear more about your angel of death, but buddy-problems demand my attention!" He hopped about and eventually up the stairs. "Another day, o' great one!" Were his last words as he zoomed out of the room, footsteps fading together with his voice.

The basement was silent once more - with nothing but the churning of an imagined generator and the sound of blue liquid bubbling around the cylinders.

"Alas," Garland bemoaned, "they exist in a time they do not belong to... they know not what they are doing... they know not where they are going..."

\-------------------------------

Of course, needless to say, by the time Zidane emerged from underground Kuja was already nowhere to be seen. Even so, the boy took a quick glance around the 'experimental room', which Garland had introduced it as. He was about to sprint off to continue his pursuit of his maniacally depressed buddy when he saw a flash of spring green from the corner of his eye.

*This wasn't here when we came,* was the first thought which came to his mind as he approached the platform in the middle of the dark room.

A single stalk of a leafy plant stood quietly there, the only other form of life belonging to this place Zidane had seen since Garland. It's existence seemed to bear witness to a deeper truth. And it was something Zidane could not describe.

"So there's life in this undead place after all..." The boy found himself muttering under his breath. He stared at the plant for just that while longer before backing away from the platform and eventually breaking into a run out of the room, to the more important matter at hand.

He did not notice the eerie glow of red that had been pulsating in the corner of the room from since he had noticed the plant.

As Garland stepped out of the shadows, his hardened stare turned to the same plant Zidane had been quietly oogling at previously - a tiny shred of surprise causing his countenance to falter, ever so slightly.

\-------------------------------

Terra was a beautiful place, Zidane decided, as he wandered around aimlessly trying to spot the silver-haired man. But beautiful in a very very depressing way. The blond bandit sighed as he made the connection. Blue always had a special place in his heart, perhaps even before he lost his memory. And this place was so blue, he honestly didn't know if it was ever possible to find another place which was vaguely similar. He walked on, listening to the sound of his boots tredding on the metallic ground. Terra was indeed as weird as it was serene.

Finally unable to bear the silence anymore, he cupped his hands by the sides of his mouth and yelled, "KUUUU~~~ JAAAA~~~ !! WHERE IN BLUE BLAZES ARE YOU?!"

He got no reply, as he had predicted, so he took a deep breath... and continued.

"KUUUUUUUUUJAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~~~~!! KUJAKUJAKUJAKUJAKUJAKUJAKUJAKUJA-"

In the middle of the Kuja-chant, Zidane was knocked down by a flying boot. No prizes for guessing who that boot belonged to.

"Oouuuuccch..." The monkey boy rubbed the sore part of his head and glanced upwards towards a bluish cliff while holding the boot in the other hand. Considering there were only 3 people alive and walking around on this whole planet, it didn't really take a genius to figure out who had just thrown the boot. "... That hurt, Kuja!"

"Good!" The ex-villian folded his arms across his chest and stared frostily at the noisy bandit. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have thrown it to begin with."

Zidane's blood vessel came *that* close to bursting.

"Now come on up," Kuja gestured, oblivious to Zidane's not-so-well-camouflagued rage, "I've got something to show you. And bring the boot, too." The man winked suggestively, striking a pose as he did. It was a pose which suggested a hideous death should Zidane fail to abide by his words. He was totally unlike the steaming person who had just stomped out of a basement in rage.

Zidane gapped at the order, but could say no more since Kuja had already disappeared from the cliff. "ARGH!" He managed to screech before angrily making off for the nearest path to the cliff.

\-------------------------------

Kuja sat by the entrance of the Invincible, putting his boot on. Still as poker-faced as ever, he watched in bemusement as Zidane rounded the airship for the 7th time, bringing up a different detail of the ship each time he did. This time, he was complaining about the apparent lack of ventilation, especially since he hadn't been able to find a single door during his patrol. It was then that Kuja decided it was time to intervene.

Wordlessly, he neared a side of the ship, gesturing at Zidane to take a few step backwards. After he was certain the monkey boy would be out of the danger range, he placed a hand on a squarish area of the surface of the ship. It flashed a deep red, and before Zidane knew it, a door was lowered, allowing passage into the bowels of the vehicle. The boy gasped at how seamlessly the door had fitted into it's post - so seamless no examination, no matter how careful, could reveal that the entrance was there.

There was no time to mull, for the silver-haired man had quickly entered the ship. Zidane quietly followed, for fear that the door-ramp might slam shut in his face if he didn't. To his surprise, however, the door remained just where it was, flat down on the ground with no signs to indicate that it would be shutting. Noticing that technology and mystery sometimes went hand in hand, he then turned and vanished into the long corridor Kuja had gone to.

Along the way the same blue lights of Terra greeted him - from the ground to the ceiling. Taking in as much as he could, he followed Kuja until the latter finally stopped in front of a reddish orb, decorated with intricate designs of the constellations. From there, Zidane noticed that he could take in the whole of Terra - or whatever was currently below the Invincible. Something at the back of his mind nagged at him, telling him that yes, he had been here before. But he didn't want to put too much effort into it, for it would be a nasty shock to blink and find oneself 500 years into the future. Kuja had spun around and was seemingly ready to talk.

"?" Zidane raised an eyebrow.

"How do you find the ship?" Kuja beamed.

"..." Zidane could only turn his eyes in his sockets to consider his position. "... it's blue." He said when he returned his glance to Kuja.

"Oh?" Kuja surprised him by not throwing a boot at his inane reply. "Anything else?"

The bandit considered his circumstance seriously. He dug at the deepest recesses of his mind and came up with the most intelligent answer he had in that store.

"You know, I don't think the door was the proper way to get into the ship..." The words just left his mouth without him really processing it. Noticing Kuja falter slightly, the boy stuck his tongue out. "Whoops, did I just say that?"

Kuja spun around and checked something on the red globe. "Yup," he said, with his back still against the tail-boy, "you just said that, and we're still in the same time frame, so you're safe."

Although Zidane would take some time off to thank the heavens he was not being thrown another boot, he was not entirely oblivious to the tension. "Hey," he finally spoke up, "you're distracted, Kuja. I know you don't like small talk, and you NEVER start a conversation which focuses on small talk... so what's going on? My gut tells me you honestly don't like this place, that Garland guy, and that basically, you're hiding more things than you can bear." He waited for an answer, or a sign of indication that Kuja had heard all that, in vain. Shrugging, he continued, "So what was that thing you wanted to show me, anyway?"

A few moments later, the silver-haired man gestured the boy nearer to the red globe, which was now beginning to be coloured black. Together they stared into it.

From a small corner of the room, a blotch of pitch darkness appeared and spread out evenly to fill a considerable area. Zidane nudged nervously at Kuja, who merely shook his head and basically told the anxious boy to calm down and watch, which Zidane did. Kuja pulled out a spare materia orb from his inventory and flung it at the pulsating darkness. As they watched, the darkness slowly swallowed the orb the same way Cloud and Squall had been swallowed earlier. Kuja touched the orb with his index finger. Immediately it reverted back to the glowing stasis of red which reminded Zidane much of the red orb Garland sported on his armour. In another moment and the darkness folded into itself and vanished without a trace.

Tongue-tied, Zidane could only grip his fists tighter.

"This globe," Kuja slowly began, "is basically the multi-purpose control panel of this airship." As he spoke, he spread his palm out and let his hand hover just above the object in discussion. Immediately it flickered and they found themselves staring at a portrayal of the entrance of the ship they had walked in from. "We can even close the door from here." The man blinked, speaking in a matter-of-fact tone. No sooner than he had spoken, the door began to wind itself up and was soon seamlessly integrated into the ship as part of the interior walls. After that, Kuja retrieved his hand and let it hang by his side.

"That's very good, Kuja!" Zidane grinned from ear to ear and clapped - but his actions were definitely part of a show. "But so???" He snapped out of the act and asked candidly. "What has this got to do with anything?"

"OH!" Kuja threw his hands up in disgust. When they came down, he made sure one of it landed right smack on the back of Zidane's head, where the boot had previously left a mark. "I can't believe I'm even TALKING to you!" He pointed at the red globe. "See that? Without someone willing it to move it's just what you see it as, an orb of blood redness! But if SOMEONE was using it prior to our discovery of it, this thing could very well be behind the portal which took Cloud and Squall away from Terra. Following so far? Good! Now, who else is alive and kicking on this planet besides the two of us who might have the slightest reason to want to even do that?"

"Garland!" Zidane replied without even thinking. He did not find the idea of being Flare Starred into Gaia and back particularly appealing.

"Excellent!" Kuja nodded in approval, although his expressions showed otherwise. "So that means Garland most probably opened a rather nasty portal to drag Cloud and Squall into Gaia - now the question is, of course, why."

This made the monkey boy lower his head in deep thought. "Hmmm..." He made a random noise. "... hmmmm... ??! Kuja, how did you know that portal was going to Gaia?" He lifted his head up and asked pointedly. Immediately the exasperation on Kuja's face vanished. His eyebrows knitted together slightly in apprehension and fluster, and his glance turned to the floor. Slowly, he retreated and leaned against a pillar, fingers occasionally drumming restlessly against the walls.

After a moment of silence, he sighed.

"Because this... was the exact method I used to send someone into Gaia... 12 years ago..."

Of course, Zidane completely missed the point of the confession, but he could sense the genuine sorrow in Kuja's voice - so he thought he should just let the issue go. When he tried to open his mouth to say something, however, Kuja stopped him with a commanding gesture.

"Nevermind that." He muttered. "We'll take this ship into Gaia right now. It'll be easier to look for the others this way."

Zidane found that he could only nod at Kuja's words. As different as he felt from time to time, the monkey boy decided that there was only one thing about Kuja in Terra that hadn't changed.

Kuja wanted to get out of Terra as soon as he was able to.

The familiar humming of the engines of the ship began to speed up and thin it's drone into a single, persistent whirl. As majestic as it looked, the Invincible was a portrait of indifference. The bluish texture flashed frigidly, reflecting Terra on it's curved surface as it turned and journeyed towards the nearest teleportation point.

Zidane walked slowly to the walls which showed the whole of Terra beneath them as the ship slowly traversed the land.

"What a cold, cold place..." He could not help but express his thoughts. "I wonder what happened... ? What are in those pods? I wonder what Garland has to do with all of these... ?"

"Who knows..." The silver-haired man kept his tone as non-committal as possible. As much as Kuja wanted to offer a reply, he honestly didn't know if it would be worthed it.

In truth, he was just unable to face his past.

The blonde bandit watched as Kuja tightened his grip on the rails around the globe, trembling a little on occasions. "Why... ?" He thought he heard the silver-haired man ask in a volume that was not meant to be paid heed to. "... why?"

Entirely unused to a Kuja who asked abstract questions like 'why', Zidane could only shift his weight around uneasily. Perhaps the best he could offer for support now was by just keeping quiet. He decided that Terra was not only weird, but it made people weird as well, and made mental notes to himself never to come here anymore unless absolutely necessary. Leaving Kuja to brood and angst on his own, the boy turned his attention back to the ground they were passing by in flight.

The silence... thus continued...

\-------------------------------

Nobody was there to notice the dark figure who took big, lofty strides down the corridor of the Invincible to an inconspicuous spot where he could observe the two genomes in their activities.

The orb of red on his armour throbbed in ghostly tones, as if casting a dark shadow over whatever there was to come...

 

\-------------------------------  
aoi sekai datta  
26/7/2002


	22. Chapter 22

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
haha naru kodai no ki da

 

"In any case, this is one spunky looking ship!" Zidane proclaimed loudly as he re-entered the Invincible's control room, where Kuja had yet to budge from. He did not notice the obvious cringe Kuja got when he said that.

"Just hang on tight," the silver-haired man touched the globe again, making the ship produce a rather strange sound, much like it was changing gears. "We're about to jump into Gaia after going through that portal," he pointed at an area of diffusion before the speeding Invincible, visible through the clear panels of the control room.

"Am I supposed to expect anything to happen during that period?" The bandit decided to get his facts right before planning his next move.

To this, Kuja merely shrugged. "Not that I know of, since we're in the Invincible."

Silently cheering, the monkey located a corner in the control room and sat himself comfortably there, content to let the older genome handle all the hard work.

Another while more and Zidane's eyes had shut.

Kuja removed his hands from the globe, pulling the Invincible to a stop right before the portal, shimmering with welcome. Wordlessly he walked towards where the blond bandit had his arms crossed and was currently making slightly audible nose sounds. He bent down, as if to check whether the boy was truly asleep - only to cast a Sleep spell on him to make sure he was.

The boy stirred and then dropped back into the depths of slumber, with a heavy sound as his skull connected with the Invincible's flooring. Kuja rose to full height and glanced around the room with an unreadable expression on his face. Finally, he spoke up.

"I know you're there, Garland. Might as well come out and talk..."

The way the icicles dripped off his voice, however, it didn't seem like he was prepared to hold any form of civil conversation with the object of his attention.

 

\-------------------------------

 

"I don't know what you think, but I sure as anything think that we're back on Gaia."

Squall looked up at his approaching companion from where he was sitting. The blond haired mercenary stepped into the clearing cautiously, glancing around the forested area in search of any predator in hiding. Finding none, he cocked his head to a side and smiled crookedly at the moody teenager.

"Yeah... back at Gaia..." was the SeeD's uninterested reply.

After that, was silence.

"So, err..." Cloud run a hand through his hair, attempting to hold a conversation, "... you... thinking of something?"

The sullen teenager didn't reply.

A while later, Cloud finally shrugged and gave up. Perhaps now would be a good time to recollect what had happened. And as far as Cloud was concerned he only consciously remembered one thing.

The sorceress Ultimecia.

The name of the sorceress behind all the trouble they were having now.

That lady in red which Squall had referred to as Ultimecia did not give him as bad a shudder as he had expected. On the contrary, she emitted an aura of depression so thick, it was choking. What happened, and what was going to happen from now on? Cloud had no idea, and Squall most definitely was not going to speak his mind just yet. Sighing again, the older person paced around the clearing to try to untie the knots in his mind and stomach.

"That wasn't Ultimecia."

As if he had read Cloud's mind, Squall spoke those words out loud, a glint of confusion within his eyes nevertheless.

Curious, the blond mercenary spun around so he faced the moody teenager. "And I was pretty sure you were the one who called her that, when we were in the training centre."

The boy immediately furrowed his brows, wanting to say something but not knowing how to. "It... just wasn't her!" He ended up saying anyway. It was the worse kind of argument he could get himself involved with - the kind which he had no evidence to back him up other than pure instinct - but yet he had never been more sure. The apparition he had thought to be Ultimecia... just didn't feel like her. Maybe it was her, but there was something more to this than just that.

Her last words especially had been deeply engraved onto his heart.

What was it about her that made her so familiar... and yet so faraway... ?

"Well anyway," he tore away from his train of thoughts when he heard Cloud reply, "this isn't exactly the best time to be talking about that." He invited Squall to look around themselves with a sign of his hand. "Want to first figure out where we are and how we can get back into civilization?"

Squall had to take a really deep breath to finally push all thoughts about the sorceress away from his mind. He stood stiffly up and looked at his partner, trying to communicate his readiness. Of course, Cloud quickly saw through the stiffness and sighed, shaking his head sadly. Obviously it was going to be a long time before the SeeD can really pull himself together.

Cloud put a hand on a nearby tree for support, so that he could sigh dramatically.

It was dramatic, indeed.

The moment his hand touched the tree the earth quaked and tremored in response. Quickly he retracted his arm, but it didn't stop the quake in any way. It was difficult standing firmly on the ground, but surprisingly, it wasn't exactly impossible. When he finally caught onto the momentum of the trembling, something large burst out from the ground behind him, uprooting a few trees in the event and casting a heavy shadow of loom over his back. Instinctively he bounded forward and then turned around to behold the thing in it's full glory. By the time he did that, the trembling had stopped, and there was a new addition to the scene they previously had not known to be there.

"What the-" Cloud could not believe his eyes.

It was Squall who stepped ahead of him first to examine the large structure. The thing was tall - almost twice Squall's height - and had a narrow, gaping entrance which led into pitch darkness. The boy stood just at it's line of entry, taking in the sounds that were coming out from within. It appeared to be just a massive thing carved of nature, much like how the interior of the Lunatic Pandora was shaped. Even it's glowing jade-like texture was similar. The young mercenary bit his lips nervously. Just as it had been previously at the ruined Balamb Garden, this structure gave off an aura which demanded his attention. It beckoned at him, wanting him to enter and find out for himself what awaited him inside.

Dangerous, but so, so appealing.

"Tell me you're not thinking of going in there."

Once again, Cloud brought him back into reality.

"......................."

Was Squall's poignant reply.

"Oh... great..." The blond put his face in his hand.

"I mean..." Squall mumbled, "... surely nothing could go wrong this time, if we go in there together..."

"......" It was Cloud's turn to be poignant.

"We can't find anything out by just standing around this clearing doing nothing, anyway..."

"And we can find everything out by going in there and sending ourselves to our doom, right?" The older man rolled his eyes.

"Well I don't know." Squall shrugged indifferently. "I just know that I wanna go inside there to investigate. It's better than walking in the forest for the whole day."

They stared at each other for a moment.

"I guess you have a point," Cloud finally gave up, "but we turn back the moment any danger is sensed, you get that?"

"Sure." The boy smiled slightly. He took a step forward, and into the darkness, followed soon by his partner.

Their footsteps echoed ominously into the heart of the structure, which slowly inclined downwards. No longer could their voices be heard, for they had both fallen silent.

As soon as the sounds of boots trodding on hard soil completely faded out from hearing range of the dark, looming entrance, the jade-like structure vanished without a trace.

The forest resumed it's normal outlook.

It was like nobody had ever stepped foot in it before.

 

\-------------------------------

 

"Sure is one dark place." Cloud commented drily. They had stopped descending down a path he had imagined to be steps and now stood in front of a looming corridor which was lighted by only a fire torch on each side of it's walls. Squall was about to take a step forward when Cloud stopped him, frowning slightly.

"What is it?" Squall asked.

"I don't know for sure," Cloud merely side-stepped and deftly grabbed a torch off it's place on the wall, holding it out as far as his arm allowed him to without taking a single step forward. "This place just feels weird."

Without another word, he flung the torch forward. The metallic fixture hit the ground and produced a hard chime, bouncing a few more times before coming to a rolling stop.

The fire continued to burn in it's placeholder. Not two seconds after the torch came to a stop, however, the fire was cut out like a large object had clamped it shut to deprive it of air. As if that was a trigger, the entire corridor suddenly gushed with new light, flames bursting forth from torches lined up against the walls in the darkness, previously unlit. Both Cloud and Squall took some time to marvel at what was going on, before locking their sights on an opening some distance away, down the straight passageway.

There was only time to glance briefly at each other before breaking into a run towards the chamber.

Perhaps they would find what they were looking for there?

 

\-------------------------------

 

"As perceptive as I have created you to be, I see, but stubborn and relentless, nevertheless." A loud, booming voice entered the control room before it's source even reached the visible entrance.

Kuja narrowed his eyes cautiously. "Garland..." He snarled. "... you knew all about this time compression thing..."

"I only know," the tall, grand looking man stepped into Kuja's line of sight, "what the oracles tell us..."

"?" Kuja frowned, unable to understand what Garland had just said.

They stood, quietly considering each other's presence.

"Let us go to Gaia." Garland finally broke the silence. "Perhaps that is the place in which you can find the answers you are looking for."

The silver-haired man found himself unable to say anything in reply. Before he could gather his thoughts to ask why they had to go to Gaia, however, the Invincible's engines roared to movement once more, and headed straight for the portal they had stopped in front of. "What the-" The ex-villian almost lost his footing with the airship's sudden jerk. Quickly glancing up to demand an answer from Garland, he was surprised to find that the older man had disappeared from the door.

He turned around warily, and just as he had expected, found the dark-clad senior citizen hovering just slightly above the control globe, directing the Invincible's every move.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Kuja felt an inexplainable sort of rage boiling within him. Of course, Garland didn't even bother to reply, less say turn around. The Invincible soared through the Terran skies and slowly dissolved into the portal that would lead them to Gaia, despite Kuja's loud protests.

Outside the airship, swirls of bright colours greeted them, threatening to engulf them. The sturdy ship showed no signs of breaking or slowing down, however, and kept at it's pace, journeying towards the unknown destination. Blinded temporarily by the bright lights, Kuja had to look away for a while, until he was sure his eyes had adjusted properly. Glancing nervously out of the window, he could see the exit of the portal just straight ahead. Somehow it twisted his nerves so much that he forgot Garland was piloting the ship. All he managed to do was to grip his fists tightly, as the Invincible broke through the vortex and hovered quietly above the oceanic region of the Shimmering Island.

Above them, the portal regressed and soon was no more. Kuja felt like he had just been punched in the guts, as he took in the whole of Gaia once more from the control room of the Invincible.

He could see that Gaia was currently still uncultivated. Trees swamped every single continent as far as the eye could see, and the silence was painful to the ear.

Something was not right about the current scene, though. Kuja briefly recalled what he knew about the land. Suddenly the light dawned, and the silver-haired man stuttered, "Wait... whe- where's the Iifa Tree?" He blinked in disbelief. From what he had known, the Iifa Tree had been with the planet before the other plants grew; which was why it was called the mother of all trees. Now that there were other trees but NO Iifa Tree...

Without a word Garland proceeded to pilot the Invincible where the Iifa Tree was supposed to be. There were trees covering the entire length of the continent, all the way up to the mountains, some even near the beaches. However, there was a curious cirucular clearing right in the middle of the land of the continent. No trees went near it. No leaf or canopy covered it. The grass were of a standard height, and a standard colour. It was peculiar, but that was not what Kuja had noticed about the clearing.

It was that this clearing was exactly where the center of the Iifa Tree should have been.

Garland continued to say nothing. The Invincible rounded the area until it's bottom Eye was exactly above the weird clearing. Kuja quickly eyed the older man with a deep frown, questions evident in his stare. Despite the burning urge to know, the ex-villian refused to ask anything to the balding old man unless it was absolutely necessary.

He watched carefully, as Garland retrieved something from within his dark robes.

It looked like a little seed.

"From here," Garland's voice boomed once more, "things will begin."

"... what?" Kuja blinked, puzzled.

With one gloved hand on the globe, Garland did something and made the ground beneath the clearing open up into a large crevass. This scene stayed for a while, as Kuja stared and wondered what had just happened, before Garland finally placed the tiny seed he had withdrew atop the globe and then pushed it down until the seed could no longer be seen.

Like it had been swallowed up by the blood-red globe.

If one were to look from a long distance away, one would see a bright, shimmering trail slowly descending from the Eye of the Invincible. Before long it entered into the hole in the ground that was the clearing. A short while after that the whole of Gaia shook and trembled violently.

As if... it was in great pain...

 

\-------------------------------  
haha naru kodai no ki datta  
26/7/2002


	23. Chapter 23

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
shinjitsu ni chikaku naru

 

"Oh wow," Cloud's first reaction was to give an exhilarated sigh, "would you look at that!"

Having arrived at the end of the tunnel, Cloud and Squall stepped into a dome-like underground cavern of sorts, encased from floor to ceiling with sparkling crystals. In stark contrast against the gloomy tunnel they had just left behind, this room practically blinded them. Carefully the boys stepped deeper into the area - until they were finally confident that there was no real harm in splitting up and searching the place for clues, or anything that would lead them to either the sorceress, or Necron.

Cloud knelt and scratched at the cakes of dried mud peeling off the surface of the ground.

"Looks like nobody's been here for quite a while." He made a random observation. Squall's reply was a snort of near indignation, like the implications of Cloud's words had been insinuating that he was an idiot who had yet to figure *that* part of the deal out. He continued poking miserably at the wall he was inspecting.

Silence reigned. And it was awkward and uncomfortable.

"Do you think," Squall was the one to speak up first, "that time ever ends?"

The blond mercenary did not turn around to look at his darker-haired counterpart.

"Why do you ask?" His reply was hollow of allusions.

"Just wondering..."

The only noises after that sentence was the muffled sound of boots on dried ground as well as the occasional slide of fabric against crystal walls.

"Does it matter?" Cloud asked, "If time ends or not?"

Squall stopped handling the brittle lump of crystal that had dropped out from the wall as he brushed past it, to consider that. "It's nothing, really..." He tried to appear calm and reassuring - reassuring himself perhaps, "... don't you feel like our journey is like a race against time somehow?

"So maybe, just maybe, if time does end, then we can be sure that... our journey does have a destination, after all..."

"Don't be silly," Cloud immediately intercepted, unsure of why he was saying that. He strode over and gave the moody mercenary a bonk on the upside of his head.

"We can never make time end, but we can to our journey."

The teenager sighed, unable to refute the wisdom of those words. As he struggled to muster up a semi-coherent and *somewhat* intelligent reply, something at the far-side of the room caught his eye. Blinking, he jerked in his position and raced towards his destination, ignoring the fact that he had almost knocked Cloud over in the event. In a short while he had arrived at the object of his excitement - a oddly shaped crystalline structure sheltered by roots of the trees above, twisted into an intricate design.

His hand reached out despite the warning signals to touch the wall beside the structure.

"Look!" He exclaimed, not pausing to check if Cloud was behind him or anywhere near him to actually be hearing him.

"Look at?" Fortunately, though, Cloud was rational enough to follow the boy as he had made his way here. His bright, sky-blue eyes peered curiously at what Squall was so intently staring at, sparkling with slight amusement. "Oh, that... I think I've seen it be-" He stopped himself from continuing when he realized what he was about to say.

Hanging precariously from the semi-translucent crystal walls which had a protrution just at their waist level, was a chain necklace, with two silver rings attached to it. Years of being buried underground had not toiled it in any way whatsoever, but however gave it a more eerie illumination than it originally had when it was still being adorned.

It was the necklace Cloud had seen Rinoa, the girl in blue in the various visions he had, wearing. This made Cloud frown. He was never one to believe that coincidences in situations like these would bode anything good at all. Before he could shout a warning, however, Squall had reached out and tugged the necklace from it's place in the wall.

The chain broke free from it's crystal prison with a melodious chime, effectively halting time.

Without warning the ceiling of the chamber opened up with splendour to welcome the piercing rays of glorious afternoon sun. Temporarily blinded, Cloud and Squall could only hold their hands up in defense as the seed Garland had make descend from the Invincible shimmered downwards, unseen by the audience, and promptly buried itself within the magical soil of the room. There was a pause, as the matter slowly developed itself according to the rhyme.

When Cloud and Squall felt ready to look upon the reflection of the sun on the sheering crystal walls, the ground was trembling, and slowly building up into an earthquake.

"Oh... no..." Cloud immediately looked around for an exit they could run to or a place they could hide. Logic told him running or hiding would mean imminent doom anyway, so both were not a good choice. Squall was also probably thinking along the same lines. They exchanged a quick glance with each other.

The vines then made their earsplitting entrance through the walls and started their random demolition.

Both Cloud and Squall could do nothing but leap and dodge the destructive, and somewhat sentient vines as much as they could. Of course, they didn't forget to shout words of encouragement to each other once in a while. "Hey, what's going on?" Squall had been first to ask, the necklace he had pulled out in one of his hands and the Lionheart in his other.

"You tell me!" The blond sounded cross. He jumped onto a vine which had buried itself from wall to wall and was currently growing in diameter. He hadn't anymore time to think before another vine twisted his way and forced him to leap some more. "Any bright ideas now?"

Squall wasn't having all that fine a time himself, having nearly been pinned to a nearby wall by the onslaught of 10 slim and sharp vines, had he not ducked and rolled to a side just in time. They both knew that their situation was dire - and that they had to get out of this vine-pit soon if they wanted to live to see another day. The severe quaking wasn't doing anything to help either. There was only one exit, and they both knew what to do when they next met each other's glances.

In a candid moment of unison, both Cloud and Squall got a firm foothold onto one of the vines which had stopped moving so much, and leapt towards the large, gaping hole which had opened from the surface of the earth down to where they currently were.

Cloud gulped and looked downwards from where he was hanging on unsteadily. Scaling slippery walls was a great challenge, but it was peanuts compared to the riot going on down at the chamber they had just barely managed to escape from. The vines were having a lovely time weaving around each other.

And when they ran out of space down there, they would have only one other place to exert their authority.

"Go, go, go, go!" Cloud could find no better word to describe his most desired action at the moment. Without waiting for a respond from his partner he began to secure the heights by clinging tenanciously onto the soft walls and climbing up slowly. The random bangs and crashes below them served as a great impetus, and both of them neared the cavernous exit in no time.

Squall flipped out of the hole first and quickly helped Cloud out. Just as the first large, ambitious vine burst out of the chamber it had been trapped in to taste the nourishing sun. Before long it was joined by it's other buddies, all wanting to get more sunlight to facilitate their growth sprout. Some of the vines twisted upwards, while the others cascaded outwards like a wave against the ground.

Of course, neither Cloud nor Squall was there to greet them.

"I swear..." Cloud found his voice despite himself, "... that I have never ran so quickly in my life before..."

The silence from Squall oddly denoted to him that the SeeD was thinking along the lines of, "So haven't I."

Through the thick trees of the forest they scampered, without a route or destination. There was no need for one, as long as they ran in the opposite direction from those dastardic vines, or roots, or tree trunks, whatever the sentient foliage wished to be known as. They ran so fast, they arrived at an outcrop in the area with surprise written all over their faces. Behind them, sounds of terror and destruction - in which the Iifa tree roots tore up all other minor trees in it's path and flung it in this direction or that - began to get nearer.

"Think we can 'Float' across this crevass?" Cloud was calculating his every move.

"We could try, but what happens after that?" Squall turned to look at the older person, hoping that he had some sharp insight into their situation he himself hadn't been able to think up of.

"I have absolutely no idea," the blond was brutally honest. However he didn't seem to be overly worried. "Why don't we get across this crevass first? Then maybe we can think of what happens after that."

Amidst the roar of the tendrils behind them wrecking havoc on the land, Squall turned to look at the deep, seemingly bottomless chasm they had to vault over for survival. He slowly prepared for the spell, but found some spare time to berate his companion nonetheless.

"You're so beginning to sound like Zidane."

At that, Cloud stopped fumbling with his materia for a while and turned to regard the dark-haired SeeD thoughtfully.

"I'm sure he loves you too, Squall."

 

\-------------------------------

 

Zidane was brought to awareness by nature of the most thunderous sneeze he had ever sneezed in his life. In a daze he leapt to his feet, eyes glazed and expressions taut, wondering where he was and what he was supposed to be doing.

It took him a while to register that there were two other people in the control room, as opposed to the fact that there should have been only one. With tired eyes he yawned and stared blankly at the supposed newcomer, a balding, pasty man all decked out in black.

He grinned stupidly.

"Howdy!" A raspy voice slipped from his throat, prompting the monkey to cough a little at the unacceptable quality of his voice. Nevertheless he continued, "Wow, what happened? Looks like the ship just got more crowded than it already was!" Finishing which, his head automatically twisted in Kuja's general direction. The silver-haired man merely looked to a side, arms akimbo. He was emitting an aura of utter despise and Zidane was not ignorant to it. Still, he thought it would be nice if he could find out more about what happened during his nap and why the atmosphere was suddenly all tight and tangy at the moment.

Something else caught his attention, though.

"Hey, if it isn't the Cloudy Squall team!" He bounded happily towards the window of the Invincible, which was overlooking the rumpus that was the Iifa tree trying to anchor itself into the continent. His sharp vision had immediately spotted the two figures standing at the outcrop of the broken land, with ringlets of the Iifa tree roots clamouring nearer to them at every heartbeat. "We found them, Kuja! WOOH!" Zidane didn't bother to turn around to gesture, for Kuja had broken out of his reverie and was already by his side, staring out of the window.

"Oh, my goodness," the ex-villain breathed, "they're going to be tree toast if they don't find a way to get out of that place soon."

Zidane took those words seriously and pressed against the clear window pane closer than he should. "...... Kuja, anything we can do to help?!"

"Well we could-" Before Kuja could finish his sentence the ship suddenly hummed into movement from it's temporary hiatus. Both the Genomes spun arond to catch Garland hovering ominously over the globe of blood red. "-... what the heck do you think you're doing now, Garland!" Kuja's subject of conversation immediately switched focus. He was going to move closer to the globe when the ship jolted and trembled, causing both Zidane and Kuja to lose anchorage.

"Do not worry," Garland's authorative voice reassured them, "no harm shall come to your comrades, as long as the ship lives." Although being reassured by Garland, of all people, was rather ironic to begin with.

The Invincible soared the skies with rapidity and grace, lowering itself to a comfortable distance between Cloud and Squall.

Zidane and Kuja could see looks of bewilderment on the two mercenaries, as they were in the middle of crossing the ravine with a Float spell before the Invincible disrupted their original purpose.

In a blink, they were gone.

Replacing their position above the valley were the never-dying tendrils of the near-completing Iifa tree, as layer upon layer of the bark engulfed the one that was beneath, eventually winding into a braid of roots.

"... !!" Both Zidane and Kuja masked no emotion about the sudden change of events.

"What have you done, you Darth Vadar xerox?!" Zidane showed no mercy with his anger, bringing in even entities from the galaxy far far away to help him make his point. He had an accusing finger trained against the said xerox.

Garland spoke no more, as he departed from the globe and dissolved into the darkness.

The only thing interactive he left behind was the ominous drone of the engines.

And the glaring red globe of the Invincible.

Like blood.

 

\-------------------------------  
shinjitsu ni chikaku natta  
17/10/2002


	24. Chapter 24

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
mezashiteiru

 

There was a flash and two new beings phased into the control room.

Four pairs of eyes interlocked.

"!" went one.

"!!" went another.

"!!!" went the third.

"You guys!" went Kuja, determining not to look or sound equally spastic.

"Kuja!" Cloud seamlessly connected from where the silver-haired villian left off. He desisted the Float spell and gently landed, breathing a sigh of relief to be standing firmly yet again. "Wow! This is getting too good to be true! Everytime we separate we'd be sure to meet up one way or the other again!"

"I definitely think somebody is behind this now," Squall tapped his chin with his fingers and struck a thoughtful pose, "Coincidences should never happen so many times in a row."

"Bummer! Don't spoil the fun!" Zidane was hopping around practically on his tail. "We're back together again and that's all I care about!" He laughed mercilessly, making it hard for both Cloud and Squall to believe that he was really glad to have them back. "It was getting soooo boring around here- errr, I didn't mean you, Kuja, don't look at me like that." The blond bandit quickly backed away from the older genome, who was giving him the Evil Eye.

"Anyway," always quick to be gracious, Kuja flicked some of his silver tresses across his shoulders and stared expectantly at the new arrivals to the ship, "what happened to you guys? What possessed you to go near that thing anyway?"

"Well, I dunno," Cloud spoke up after a while, "one moment we were in the training centre of Balamb Garden, then we appeared here. Then we got chased around by a tree. Then all of a sudden we're here again. Ugh..." He stopped, after realizing what a complete moron he just sounded like.

All the others stared at him with large, mystified eyes.

"So we found this underground cavern of sorts and blah blah blah," Squall next spoke up, feeling talkative all of a sudden, "oh, and we even found this!" He held up the necklace he had been clutching tightly to all this while.

"What is it?" Zidane squinted to try to look more closely at the thing.

"A necklace of sorts, brainless," Kuja snorted derisively, earning him a none-too-amiable glare from Zidane. "Doesn't look like it'll bring us closer to solving this whole time compression thing, though... why did you pick it up, Squall?" Kuja reached out to feel the rings around the chain so he could determine their make and type.

Squall shrugged, but did not withdraw his hand, confident that Kuja would merely touch it, and not snatch it away. "In that entire crystal chamber, this was the only thing that stood out, being metal, so I-"

A bright flash of light from the bowels of the chain he was holding stopped the teenager from continuing his explanation. He let go of the necklace out of astute fear and took a step back in semi-horror. Even though this wasn't exactly the most horrible thing he had ever come across.

The silvery thing fell to the purplish grounds of the Invincible with a tiny bell-like sound. It rolled on it's perimeter and finally came to rest with it's head to the world and tail to the ground.

It wasn't a necklace anymore, no. The bright flash had seemingly morphed it into something round and flat. Both Squall and Kuja took some time to review what they were seeing.

"Now where have I seen that coin before?" Zidane burst into their thoughts by thinking aloud.

Cloud was the one to pick it up, examining it closer. "It looks like the one you should be holding onto, Kuja."

The mercenary took his time to flip the coin back and forth, noticing with slight distaste that it indeed bore a striking similarity to the coin he had received from Ipsen while examining the Lunatic Pandora. He ignored the background music which was Kuja complaining to Zidane about something while trying to find the coin Cloud had spoke about. Also, Squall was mumbling away while pacing around the room, apparently trying to locate the chain he had dropped, refusing to believe that it had turned into a coin which he had no sentimental feel for. The blond mercenary kept silent, musing in the noise.

And then.

"Hey, Cloud, I found the coin!" Kuja was surprisingly hyper for his usual cool demeanor. Cloud turned around just in time to catch the thing Kuja had tossed over. He nearly asked the silver-haired man why exactly he was in this near-ecstatic mood, but thought the better of it. He concentrated instead on comparing the two coins in his hands.

Squall sighed, as he sat down in a corner of the ship, depressed. The necklace was by far the closest thing he had come across to home and Rinoa. Of course he would feel terrible losing it just right after he had acquired it. Nevertheless he waited to see how things would unfold.

Cloud had this disturbed look on his face as he stared at the coins. He looked so uncomfortable, Squall could have sworn someone must have stuck his foot into a toilet bowl - nevermind they didn't have toilet bowls - and flushed it 10 times over. In their own spot in the airship, Zidane and Kuja were seemingly engaged in their own rather deep and interesting conversation, judging by the looks on their faces. Squall half imagined Kuja must be teaching Zidane something, which was not entirely untrue. Kuja was actually trying to coach the blond genome how to pilot the Invincible using the reddish globe.

None of the four were really paying attention to each other.

A long silence reigned.

Until Cloud cleared his throat for attention.

"Um... Kuja?" He directed his query to the purple-clad angel of death, who looked nearly ready to blow a blood vessel at Zidane, who currently had half a hand dipped into the red globe with a look of wonderment on his face. Both of them looked up to regard Cloud squarely.

"Yes?" The pale-haired mage managed to eke a somewhat friendly looking smile. Zidane continued playing around with the red globe.

"Did you..." Cloud hesitated, "... do something to the coin... ?" he eventually settled for the simplest way to ask.

"Except keeping it, nothing else I know of," was the reply, "Why?"

Wordlessly the ex-Shinra soldier brought the coin closer to his view, with the side that had Ipsen's name imprinted facing Kuja. As Kuja stared weirdly back and forth at the coin, then Cloud, the blond finally flipped the coin around to let the genome know what he was truly talking about.

On the side of the coin that was supposed to be just a smooth, flat silver surface, purposeful words had formed. They appeared to be deeply etched into the coin along with engraved symbols and patterns, not something even the most skilled could claim to craft within the short span of time that had elapsed from since Cloud last saw the coin. Time compression aside, that is. Kuja was visibly taken aback.

"Now when did that happen?" He mumbled to nobody in particular.

"Somewhere between when we first found it to now?" Cloud offered the most logical reply he could muster. "Anyway, I'm sure these words mean something - you have any impression about it? I think I've heard someone say it sometime before..."

"The Final Destiny..." Squall read the words on the coin aloud, ambling his way into the conversation, determined not to be left out.

As if on cue, Zidane stopped with whatever he was doing with the globe of the Invincible, an unusual gleam reflecting off his eyes. Without turning around to face any of them he slowly said, "... so the final destiny was closer to me than I thought it was... ?"

"Ah yes," Kuja snapped his finger, "I remember now! Zidane was saying it just before time raced forward and then we landed up in Squall's ruined Garden!"

"I resent the implications of that sentence," Squall rebutted Kuja with something akin to a distorted pout on his face.

"Oh, so Zidane said it before time decompressed, eh?" Cloud quickly came into the conversation, audibly strained. "Um... so was he supposed to know that he said it, since I don't think he was in control when it happened?"

"Nope," came the clear reply by both parties.

Then there was silence.

They all turned to look at Zidane, who had his back against them.

"Don't tell me..." Kuja blinked warily.

The younger genome quickly turned around and grinned like the monkey he was.

"That was me, don't worry guys!" He waved around like a lunatic in a parade. For their part, the others didn't know whether to feel really relieved or utterly ashamed he was even part of their brood. It was a good thing he wasn't nearly half as insane when out in the open.

"You mean you remember what you did when you weren't in control?" Squall was more than amazed.

"Not entirely," Zidane frowned, "but when you mentioned that 'final destiny' thing that sentence just popped up in my brain like it had been there all along."

"Well that calls for serious re-evaluation of events..." Kuja sighed. "... anyway what about the other coin? Does it have some similar words?"

Cloud carefully scrutinized the silverware. He then shook his head, passing it to the nearest person at hand, who happened to be Squall. "You see anything?" He asked.

".........................................." was the long pause which happened thereafter. "There's this word on the coin..." He began, slowly, "... it says 'Heart', whatever that means..."

Surprised, the blond mercenary took the coin back and looked at it again. On the one side it was as per normal, Ipsen's name. On the flipside of that there indeed was a single word he had missed during his last inspection. Of course, that was rather impossible. Nobody with eyes and hands could have missed something engraved so deep into a coin, even if it was in the darkness. He shook his head slightly to snap out of the reverie he had gotten into. "Now when did this happen?" He turned to ask Squall, who shrugged to indicate his ignorance.

"It was already there when you passed it to me."

"Maybe it reacted to Squall?" Zidane randomly inserted his thoughts into the discussion. "Like how the first coin reacted to Kuja, you know?" He grinned, trying to make a joke out of his own ideas so they wouldn't feel like he was imposing his thoughts on theirs.

"You know," Kuja stared oddly at the younger shinigami, "for once Zidane, without being in Necron mode, has a point." For that he earned an absolutely lethal glower from the monkey. "Which brings us to yet another point - what are we going to do with the coins now... ?"

"I say we collect them!" Zidane threw in yet another wacky thought of his.

"Collect them?" Squall echoed him with an almost hollow voice.

"You mean there are more coins like these ones out there?" Cloud asked.

"How did you know?" Kuja was instantaneously suspicious.

"Ouch, ouch and ouch!" Zidane held his hands out in defence. "I was just giving a hit and miss kind of suggestion, absolutely no basis on anything whatsoever! Don't look at me like I'm the criminal of the year or something, n'okay??"

Cloud nodded, "I'm sorry, we didn't mean anything negative. But it is really an interesting suggestion. Maybe you're right. Maybe we should start searching for similar coins and see if they bring us any closer to the conclusion of this time travelling thing."

"The question here is," Squall sombrely intercepted, "where in the worlds are we going to begin our search?"

For a while Kuja stared at the coins, which had ended up in his hands after being passed around the crew at least twice. He seemed to be pondering something of a really serious matter. Slowly he made his way towards the red globe and stood by it, commanding it to do something. Without warning a holographic screen flickered to life on the empty walls behind the gang, forcing them to turn around and pay attention.

Words scrolled across the illuminated box quickly, like a carefully planned movie was currently playing. Nobody turned away to look elsewhere while the complex formulas continued droning on. There was a map of sorts which then appeared. A bright blue dot kept flashing above one of the continents as they watched on. Curious, Zidane turned to look at Kuja with a silent question written on his face. Although the silver-haired man never did look up to face the boy directly, he already knew the unspoken uncertainty in the air.

"Well," he began, "the Invincible is capable of finding something of like nature if you give it a similar object." He gestured to Zidane, who walked closer innocently. In a flurry of action Kuja made a grab for the bandit's hair, ignoring his yelps and protests. With a stoned face he managed to relieve the boy of a few golden strands before dismissing him with a slight push. He then placed the hair on the translucent red globe and silently commanded it to do something yet again.

The screen flashed a bright blue, and then a red arrow flew in from nowhere to point at the flashing blue dot. The words "Similar object found here" kept flashing until Kuja did something to send the word and red arrow away.

"So if you give it Zidane's hair, it would be able to find Zidane for you." Kuja nodded and drove home the point rather soundly. Cloud and Squall had already edged as further as they could from the evil man and was nearly cowering in the opposite direction. Zidane merely moaned and pat his hair vainly.

"We kindda get the point, Kuja," Cloud nodded morbidly, "so you're going to use those coins to find any other coins there could be in the vicinity... or around the globe, no?"

"Yep." Kuja answered without looking at the blond straight in his eye. He craddled the coins carefully in the nook between his fingers and gently let it roll down onto the red globe, where they stayed for analysis.

All eyes turned to look at the screen on the wall, as information was parsed quickly through a series of unseen formulas, flashing under their noses without demanding for any real attention.

They did not have to wait long.

The by-now-familiar looking red arrow flew in from the outside of the screen to point at their desired location.

 

\-------------------------------  
mezashiteita  
28/10/2002


	25. Chapter 25

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
owari no hajimari da

 

"But still..." It was Zidane who broke the silence in the observatory of the Invincible, having been instructed to keep a lookout from there, "... I don't see how those normal looking coins can... help us in any way... hm Squall?" He directed his attention to the morose teenager known as Squall. The morose teenager merely shrugged.

"What else can we do now?" He effectively put a stop to all protests the monkey was throwing in his direction with that question.

Unable to prolong the conversation any further, the bright-haired youth whined incoherently and proceeded to sulk in a corner of the room, watching the continents fly past him in quick transit.

The silence droned on.

"Did anybody ever tell you how boring you can be, Squall?"

"......................"

"I can't believe it. I can count all the words you've said since we came here with the ten fingers on my two hands! Can YOU believe it? Huh?"

"........................."

"You haven't moved from that spot, yes THAT SPOT you're standing on right now ever since we came in either! How is that humanly possible?!"

"............................"

"You haven't looked away from that window pane once either. In fact, I think you haven't even blinked! Don't you like need to sit down or anything? Are your bones made of rubber or something? Are-"

"Shut up, Zidane." Squall sighed and finally relented. "Do you have something really major against silence and quietness?"

Turning around, he was semi-appalled to see the bandit jumping high and low with various victory hand poses, muttering "Yes! He said more than ten words in a row! Victory! WOO!" and things like that. As much as he resented that, he was in fact, slightly grateful that Zidane had taken the initiative to at least be cheery. As a trained loner most of the time Squall blended well with the scenery but in fact he hated solitude. It made him think about unnecessary things which bogged him down further than he already was. Turning on his heels he relaxed a little and sat down heavily beside where Zidane had made himself comfortable.

Curiously tilting his head to a side, Zidane asked, "What *were* you thinking about?" in an inquisitive manner, not at all demanding.

Fighting the urge to say "Nothing", Squall bit his lower lip and said, "Just... stuff... Like... What's happened so far, what started this all, and what we're going to have to do now..."

"Hrm..." Zidane turned his sights away from the dark and gloomy guy to look outside the window pane. "Logical questions to ponder at this point of time."

Silence again.

"Well then, did you come up with any answers?" The brighter boy beamed widely as he asked.

"Not really," was the nonchalant reply.

"Except that gut feel that things are finally beginning to come to a conclusion."

Zidane peered peculiarly at the SeeD.

It was truly rare to see Squall smile with that glint of optimistic determination in his eye.

 

\-------------------------------

 

Cloud had seen many a contemplative man in his life. Sephiroth, for example, was known to brood like a statue from time to time whenever the ambience was proper enough for him to brood. Vincent - now that man was more than an enigma. He could move around so quietly you sometimes wondered if he was even solid. Of course, Squall was an all new level by himself. He didn't need to brood. He WAS a brood.

And now, he had one more subject to add to his bank. Kuja the Silver Feather. Brooding had always been a serious matter to Cloud, but to Kuja, it was as floaty as the quill perched peculiarly in his hair. With an ethereal frown mixed with the ghost of a smile he swept around the control room with grace and poise. For a while Cloud followed the hypnotic paces Kuja was engrossed in striding out. Then, blinking to snap out of the trance, Cloud opened his mouth to ask, "What's wrong?"

The ex-villain turned to regard him slowly. "What?" He countered, nonplussed.

"You've been running around in circles ever since... ever since just now," the mercenary shrugged.

"It's been a while since I've had time to think." Was the genome's reply before he sat himself down beside the blonde mercenary, staring out of the Invincible's full-length window.

Peering curiously at the man who was usually full of a clever word or two while wondering why the sudden silence, Cloud slowly leaned backwards against the wall and said, "It's been awfully quiet lately. But there's this irascible feeling that it isn't quiet because it's peaceful... kind of like the silence before the storm, you know?" He tilted his head to a side and pulled at his gloves, "Like something big is going to happen soon."

As if replying to that sentence, the Invincible jerked to a stop, slowly coming to hover above a boundless area of glimmering golden sand. The occasional wind sent stream-like speckles of tiny rocks flying across the dry desert, creating a serene scene of nothingness. Kuja blinked, stood, and approached the mirror offering him the view to the vast wastelands outside. Cloud merely stared impassively. It wasn't like he had never seen desert before.

"Looks like the coins should be somewhere around..." The spikey-headed mercenary clambered to his feet and adjusted the massive blade leaning against his back. "Time to go investigate."

Soon, Cloud's footsteps became nothing but mere faded echoes, leaving only Kuja in the control room, silently pondering a matter of deep concern to him.

A while passed, before almost suddenly, the man visibly bristled. A lethal cold entered the room - so cold you could see it literally walk in. The angel of death did not allow himself to cower in the presence of the one who had made him such, slowly spinning around to regard the intruder.

The dark presence glowered and then became solid, it's single indication of life throbbing faintly, encased the red orb affixed firmly against his chest.

"What do you want now." The silver-haired man was in no mood to entertain his former master anymore - if his tightly clenched fists hadn't already give that away. He continued looking at the balding Terran from the corner of his eye.

"Perhaps the oracles can help you," Garland was surprisingly straightforward this time.

"The oracles?" Kuja raised an eyebrow. To be utterly honest, his interest had been piqued the very first time Garland mentioned something about the oracles and time travellers. "What do you mean?" He decided that he would be civil to Garland... for now.

"You will know when you hear them," the older man merely made a waving motion with his hand.

And the Invincible leapt to life once more.

"Hey!" Kuja balked, the sudden action almost throwing him off balance. He quickly stared out of the window and confirmed his worst fears. The rest of the three had already teleported out of the ship and were now quickly becoming dots on the horizon of the continent. At that he looked up and glared fiercely at the indifferent Garland, who, with a massive sweep of his large cape departed from the room, back into his most fondly loved darkness.

Frustration crept into Kuja's very soul, as he gave a cry of indignance - infuriated at having been fooled by that wily old man more than once. Try as he may, the control of the ship would not return to him, and thus he could do nothing but watch as the Invincible majestically cut through the azure skylines, onwards to it's unknown destination.

\-------------------------------

And at this point of time, there were three very confused beings standing atop the hot desert sands, staring bewilderedly at the spot where the Invincible last hovered. There was not so much as a movement for quite some time.

"What the-" Squall was the first one to lift a finger to point. "What just happened??"

"Ugh... Kuja flew off with the ship?" Zidane tried to be helpful.

"Well yeah, I know," The brown-haired student turned to stare at his two other companions, "But why would he do that?!"

"You got me." The bandit shrugged, trying to keep a poker face.

They continued to stare until Cloud found his voice.

"I'm sure he has his reasons..." He blinked his large, mako-blue eyes, not entirely certain if he himself believed what he was saying.

"But that's our only means of transport around now!" Squall nearly whined.

"You think he'll ever come back?" Zidane hooted.

"Whether or not he will, I think we should just continue searching first." The mercenary turned to look instead at the vast inhospitable surroundings staring right back at him with fulsome smugness. He took the first step into the area since first teleporting out of the Invincible. "Let's go!"

Of course, that proved to be the mistake of his life. He walked straight into a slow moving pool of quicksand and disappeared without a trace.

"............................" went Squall.

Zidane smacked his face with his hand.

And a king-sized sandworm lifted itself up from the layers of sand behind the duo, twitching it's stubby tentacles and twisting it's ungraceful body in all directions.

It screeched, sounding like it was hungry. If it had hands one could imagine it throwing them around in a flurry of movement, trying to look intimidating and succeeding to a certain extent. Instead, it tried to flail it's rows of raw and fearsome teeth like the waves of the sea. Of course, owing to how tiny it's teeth actually were, it rather much resembled a rippling puddle than the sea.

The shadow it cast told Squall and Zidane that it had it's sights set on them.

Between a slow moving pool of quicksand and a fast moving blob of hungry monster, the choice was obvious.

Squall and Zidane leapt into the quicksand.

\-------------------------------

The descent wasn't as hard as either of them had expected it to be.

After snaking through a tunnel with no light, Squall and Zidane found themselves in mid-air, having gone through the tunnel opening, staring at solid ground which laid a few feet beneath their airborne position. Quickly reacting, both adjusted their positions so they would land on the floor without having to sustain much injury.

The cloud of dust which formed when they landed soon dissipated, leaving three people staring at each other.

Or perhaps, they were staring beyond each other.

"Well," Cloud breathed, "this is a rather nice place, don't you think?"

Squall nodded mutely. He had never seen a place so vast, so grand, and so beautiful in his life. "Just like a palace..." He could barely whisper, as if afraid to disturb the serenity.

There was a shade of faint doubt mixed with recognition on Zidane's face. His mood darkened considerably. "I've been here before," his eyes were locked on the looming hallway with many statues and checkered floor tiles, "I think." He added as an afterthought.

Cloud and Squall regarded that cautiously, each ready to bludgeon Zidane into unconsciousness anytime should Necron take over. Sensing that, Zidane grinned uneasily at them and held his arms outstretched, "Calm down guys," he tried to reassure his comrades, "I'm still me, okay??" Trying to diver their attention, he glanced around briskly and asked in a subdued whisper, "Do you think the coins are somewhere around this big, creepy place?"

Breaking out of staring for Zidane, for now, Cloud and Squall also took to examining the surroundings.

This was very big place. A very very big place.

"I must say I honestly don't know," Cloud glanced upwards, wondering where all the light was coming from when they were underground. "But if the Invincible dropped us here the coins must be somewhere around..."

"Do you have the coins?" Squall asked.

"I sure hope so," Cloud reached into his pockets and fumbled around. The suspense was over soon enough. He retrieved the one silvery coin he had been carrying around and brandished it with a small smile. "Just this one. The other one is with Kuja on the Invincible."

"Better than nothing..." Squall took the coin. Almost immediately it flashed a brilliant white and paralyzed everybody for a while. This time, Squall didn't drop the coin. He held on to it until the light diminished. The coin was still there in his hands, looking like it had been when Cloud had passed it over, except that now it had the word 'Heart' inscribe on the one side that was previously empty.

"I think the coin likes you, Squall," Zidane grinned madly, his tail swishing around and causting mini dust storms.

"I think whatever it is, you hold on to this coin from now on." Cloud looked slightly under the weather.

"What did you want it for anyway?" The monkey boy was curious, as usual.

"I want to see if I can modify one of my GF's spells to see if there's anything familiar in this large cove," he informed them while mentally preparing for the ability, "unless, that is, you don't mind scavenging around here for days looking for that minute coin."

His two other companions were rendered speechless. This gave the SeeD the silence he needed for the ability, which he was already in the process of using.

Now all they had to do was to wait.

 

\-------------------------------

 

Somewhere in Oeilvert, the imposing figure of the Invincible hovered over the abandoned structure, looking for a place to stay stagnant.

Having done so, two figures flitted into view from apparently nowhere.

Garland advanced towards the edifice without a care in the world.

And left a discontented Kuja behind him to decide whether or not he would follow.

 

\-------------------------------  
owari no hajimari datta  
13/12/2002


	26. Chapter 26

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
torikaesu

 

They stalked down the hallways of Oeilvert, scaring the little monsters that hung out there. Kuja had no idea what had possessed him to even enter into this place. Being a mage in practice, coming to a place where magic was rendered useless was tantamount to suicide. It was a big no-no. Even the insane wouldn't attempt it.

But sad to say, his curiousity had won. He wanted to see what the oracles looked like. He wanted to hear what they had to say. He wanted to know something - anything about what the future held.

He wanted most of all, to know if they could lead him to solving time compression, so that things would return to normal. Then maybe he could live the rest of his life out in peace.

They arrived at the familiar looking room filled from top to toe with scary looking metallic heads. Kuja remembered having ever seen it once during his time, but at that time the heads were broken and ruined, crumbling from the onslaught of time and tide. Now, however, these heads were beautiful and bright. One could clearly see how exquisitely crafted they were, and being a fan of all things bright, Kuja found himself unable to stop taking in the view with a quiet aura of admiration.

"Stand atop the podium." Garland solemnly commanded. Kuja rewarded him with a nasty pout, but slowly, hesitantly climbed atop the platform as instructed.

When both his foot connected with the pedestral floor, he could literally see himself blurring, like a child had recklessly poured a gaussian blur effect on him. The world trembled - or maybe it was just him, but no sooner than he had regained his balance, did he feel like he had trascended into another dimension altogether.

Suddenly, the faces were alive, and they were staring at him with their eyes of age and experience. He turned in all directions, feeling like an object on public display under severe scrutiny. Never had this room awed him so much as now. It was like he was literally standing in a courtroom, waiting for witnesses to give their testimonies. Upon becoming satisfied with gawking at the faces which had become real in an instance, Kuja settled down and waited for something to happen.

"Greetings, visitor," an old voice rusted with age boomed from his right, which he quickly turned to face. "What is it you seek?"

The silver-haired villian blinked. He turned to look downwards, where Garland was quietly mulling around. Seeing no point in asking him anything, he turned back to the warm looking face who was apparently still waiting for a response from him. A frown beset his quaint features. He hadn't remembered ever hearing the faces in this room asking him questions and waiting for an answer.

"You stepped on the dias and it rose," the voice patiently continued, "an indication of one worthy to speak to. Now, child, what is your question, and who will answer you from among this room of witnesses?"

In an instance Kuja's mind raced to piece the pieces together. Apparently these faces could detect what matter was of concern to the one standing upon the platform, and answer them accordingly. No matter how shocked he was at the moment, Kuja knew that he had to count on this chance to understand some things better. And the first thing that came to his mind was promptly answered by another face from the top left portion of the dome, stretching outwards to get his attention.

"The children of Hyne are not as hard to detect as many perceive them to be," the face said, "They reside where their heart is, always..." The voice paused, then continued, saying, "Untie the knots in the chosen child, and all of time shall be solved..."

It receded back into the wall, staying silent, his moment over. Only to be taken over by yet another face, who protruded from the wall to gain attention.

"Four warriors of time will journey to erase the mistakes of Hyne," the voice uttered, capturing Kuja's attention - for this was the part he had been hearing Garland talk about, "four will fall, three will rise. The eternal darkness repressed, the final destiny awaits..."

The face regressed, and another popped out from behind Kuja.

"The riddle of paths and processions..." it began, a short introduction to an important message, "... if one starts from his heart, one walks the road of a beloved. If one starts from his feel, one walks the road of a human. If one starts from his view, one walks the road of a hero."

The lightbulb on Kuja's head literally lit up, although his face remained impeccably unreadable. There were certain keywords in this riddle which struck him as strangely familiar. Now if only he could find out why...

Before that happened the face had already returned to statis. Another face continued from where it left off, as it mumbled, "The road of a beloved crosses the road of a human. The road of a human crosses the road of a hero. The road of a hero crosses the road of a beloved." The face receded.

Then one more face, the one who had greeted him at the outset, pushed forward and looked at Kuja straight in the eye.

"No road shall lead into the final destiny." The words were mouthed slowly, and Kuja's eyes progressively narrowed in concentration, "All roads shall." The face finished it's piece, still staring at Kuja in the eye.

The platform descended back to ground level, and the illusions dispersed from Kuja's mind like mist against a strong wind. He blinked, and the room had already returned to it's original state when he entered - a hollow, empty, and lifeless cast of metallic faces staring down at him just like he stared up to them.

It looked like from time past to now, this room never failed to utterly confound him with their incoherent babble.

"THIS," Kuja spoke to the only other person in the room who was listening, "is that oracle thing you were talking about?"

Garland remained incredibly silent.

"I think," the silver-haired man strutted off the platform twisting his lip in contempt, "that this has been quite an utter waste of time."

Striding forward, attempting to maintain his strong front, Kuja crossed paths with the unmoving Garland, never turning sideways to spare him a glance, never looking backwards to show a sign of regret.

His moment with Garland in this time was over.

A moment more and he was bound to suffocate.

 

\-------------------------------

 

Cloud cut down the last of the coloured domino lookalike monsters lurking around the region of the desert palace and sighed. "Well Squall?" He checked on the current leader Zidane and himself were trying to cover while he went about feeling his way around the palace with that awesome ability he had declared his GF had. "Are we getting there yet?"

The reply was silence. Typical.

Noticing a pair of electrifying leopard eyes from the corner of his eye, Cloud quickly cast a wind spell in hopes of scaring the monster away. He was not interested in capturing a whirlwind of attention with anymore loud sword clashes. Any sound they made reverberated through the large hallways like they had spoken through a thousand and one amplifiers. And thus, more and more monsters gathered where they were, hoping to perhaps bite a chunk of them off for dinner. Nearby, Zidane had just finished flying kick another random monster over the railing and sent it plummeting down. The monkey boy sighed and looked uptight. Cloud wasn't feeling any better himself.

And they had only been walking around for less than half an hour.

Suddenly, Squall broke into a run, leaving two confused blondes behind, wondering what was going on. Of course, they gave chase. There was no logic in letting one person out of the brood.

"Hey, wait up!" Zidane called out at the SeeD, who tore down the corridors like a mad man on a wild streak. The wind brushed by his face, and the sound of their footsteps boomed loudly in his ear, reminding him how big, how lifeless, and how lonely this place was. In spite of all it's beauty, all it's elegance, despite how rich and awe-inspiring this place proved to be, it was just like an empty shell to an abandoned soul. A haven wanting but deserted of existence and verve.

Just like Kuja.

Zidane started at the connection. He could feel his own cold sweat rolling off his head, reminding him of what he had just been thinking of. He was still rushing down the hallways of the palace with speed and agility, but his mind was somewhere far away.

This place was so familiar.

The ornate flooring, the meticulous stained glass paintings, the scrupulously sculptured statues.

As the boy continued running, so did the wheels to the floodgates of his memories.

The ornate flooring, the meticulous stained glass paintings, the scrupulously sculptured statues.

He shook his head so that he would stop thinking about,

The ornate flooring, the meticulous stained glass paintings, the scrupulously sculptured statues.

But by the time Squall led them down a flight of stairs, and through the twin statues donned with large wings and decorated with candles and candlestands, he could feel a mounting amount of pressure on his head - similiar yet different, to the times when he could feel his consciousness being taken over by someone else... something else...

They broke through a door (hacked through, actually) and scrambled past a long forgotten grand piano, dusty with age.

Lingering fear crept down Zidane's soul as his eyes widened at the sight before him, and what he was afraid laid ahead. But the momentum was in swing, and he had no intention of stopping here. Bracing himself, he swallowed hard and gained entrance into the next room, where his two comrades had stopped and were examining.

Zidane stopped as well.

But he could not stop the gears that had been set in motion the moment he step foot upon this desert palace.

He could not stop the torrent of voices from barging through the cognizant part of his conciousness.

He could not stop the stream of images from filtering through the closed doors of memories into his aware mind.

"... zidane..."

Baku... and the boys from Tantulus...

"... Zidane..."

The kidnap of the Princess... which ended up making him save the world...

"Zidane..."

All that had happened, just before the Iifa tree roots twisted in his face and sealed his recollection.

"Zidane!"

Or was it truly the Iifa tree which had done that... ?

"ZIDANE!!"

"Ouch!" The monkey boy felt his head going closer to the floor, but recovered in time to regain his balance, glaring at the person who had done that. "Hey!" He protested, rubbing his head at the same time. "What did I do now?" He whined.

"Hm!" Cloud nodded, "Looks like he's still him!"

"Well anyway," Squall cut in before Zidane started griping about how unfair the world was, "we've hit a dead end for this chamber here, and I think the coins are in the proximity."

"There are some pods across this catwalk," Cloud pointed down the metal bridge, "maybe we could try those first, since the coins seem to be concealed somewhere we can't see... ... Zidane? What are you doing?" The mercenaries watched the tail-boy make his way down the bridge without waiting for his companion to finish. Like a man possessed he strolled towards one of the pods to the left of the bridge and stood in front of it, taking this time to stare at the door and consider his options. The rest of the cohort caught up with him while he pondered.

"Out of so many doors, this is what your instincts tell you to choose?" Squall asked in wonderment.

"Not instincts," Zidane flicked open a panel by the side of the door, steathily keying in the numbers needed to make the heavy doors groan and tremble, lifting themselves up from the ground.

"Just a gamble on my newfound knowledge." He grinned at his two friends, as the door slowly opened to reveal the inwards of the chamber.

Staring right back at them from the exact center of the metallic floor inside, were two shiny coins emitting an all round familiar aura of mystic.

"And what do you know," the bandit was smiling, although his eyes told another story altogether, "it looks like I've won this round, at the very least!"

 

\-------------------------------  
torikaeshita  
16/12/2002


	27. Chapter 27

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
yami to no torihiki da

 

The three of them stepped into the chamber with slight hesitance, crowding around the coins which laid there, waiting to be picked up. Eventually it was Squall who bent down to collect them into his hands, taking out the one he originally had to compare them. Cloud waited patiently for his verdict, while Zidane had that impeccable smile plastered across his face.

"Well?" Cloud looked expectantly at Squall after he lowered the coins, indicating he had finished his examination.

The dark-haired SeeD regarded his brighter-haired comrade, then confirmed, "They're of the same make."

"........." Zidane was glancing around, looking jittery, "... Let's go," he remarked tersely, already beginning to make his way out of the room.

While his two other companions wondered what was going on with him, that slight moment of pause they spent resulted in the most disastrous of consequences.

A towering block of green overlaid with linings of gold and embedded with precious stones of every sort descended from a space above them which had been invisible until now. It made strange beeping noises and from where they were Cloud and Squall could see something akin to a progress bar literally lighting up the torso of this monstrous entity.

"Intruders detected." A digitized voice sounded out, and with that the Valia Pira landed with a heavy thud on the weak metal floor of the room. "Enhancing defense systems."

"Guys, get out!" Zidane's shrill command jerked both Cloud and Squall from gawking at the sheer size of the palace's defense mechanism. Figuring that obeying would result in better health for them, though, they began scampering towards the exit where Zidane was.

It wasn't a breeze, considering how the middle of the room slowly opened up to reveal what was underneath it.

Piping, red hot lava, boiling maliciously, waiting to consume something.

Cloud let out a small 'eep!', while Squall took a split second to go bug-eyed. They hadn't reached safe grounds yet, and they did not want to know what would happen if they plummeted down into that pool of thick heat. Not interested in really finding out who was the one making the floor open up, all they cared for was to run with their whole soul until they exited the room with the enemy and a floor waiting to launch them into lava.

"Come on!" Zidane was making wild waving movements, as if believing it would help speed his friends up.

Carefully side stepping the by-now thin ledge of sharp metal slowly dissolving into it's sides, the two mercenaries won by a hair's breadth and flung themselves to safety just as the entire ground was rendered non existent. The Valia Pira, being inanimate and unable to feel fear, dropped down into the lava like a rock.

The three of them stared at the huge, gaping hole which was the floor of the chamber. Zidane was the first to break away from looking, as he gave his attention instead to the remote controller lookalike thing at the side of the door, doing something there which made the floor close up again.

Squall pointed.

"What was that?"

And asked.

Zidane blinked, turning to look at the darker-haired boy.

"You mean the floor? Or that green thing?"

"............................" went Squall, "that, and how you knew the coins were here, if you don't mind me asking..."

A few more knocks on the keypad and Zidane had the door shut up good and proper. "Well, isn't that obvious?" He grinned, putting his hands on his waist. "I've been here before. This cell," Zidane pointed at the so-said cell with a blank look on his face, "was where some over-enthusiastic villain who has since changed for the better kept me imprisoned for a some time."

There was a short pause.

"Aa," Squall nodded, as if seeing the light, "No wonder you came straight to this door when you saw it... ..... ............ ...................... !!?!??!" There was a flurry of movement as he staggered to his feet and trained his finger on Zidane's general direction. Unable to really form coherent words, Squall's speech was abound with '!!!'s and '???'s. Even Cloud had this strange look of wonderment in his eyes, albeit his expressions betrayed nothing spectacular.

"You..." Cloud finally found his voice, "... you remembered..." he barely spoke that out in a controlled whisper, "... and time isn't racing forward... ?"

The golden-haired genome answered that question with a smile beyond his sphere of maturity. "Don't tell Kuja!" He spoke with a low voice, still smiling his eyes into tight slits.

"Don't tell me what?" A strong voice called out from the other side of the catwalk, belonging to the one and only silver-haired villain of many poses. All the others spun around to see him there, having seemingly appeared from nowhere. He had a wry smile on his tired face.

"Kuja!" Cloud and Squall exclaimed, both visibly glad to see that their mode of transport had apparently returned to them. Zidane was surprisingly repressed for someone as exuberant as he usually was. He did, however, offer a very wild grin to his fellow genome, which ended up looking more scary than friendly.

Shrugging that weird imagery off, Kuja beckoned for them all to gather. "Well, how did it go?" He asked, stealing quick glances around the surroundings, as if looking for something, "Did you find the coins?"

Squall flashed the two coins he had in his hands with a small curve of his lips.

"Hmmmm!" Kuja's eyebrows went up and down in mock surprise, "Didn't think you'd find it so quickly! Well anyway, let's get back to the Invincible. I think there's a way we can find out where the sorceress is and go to her."

"'kay..." Cloud had arrived at that circular platform with weird markings and was mulling around in it, "... but how do we get back to the land from here? I mean... we kind of got sucked into this weird place by quicksand and I honestly doubt that even if we found the exact spot we fell down from that we would be able to climb back up the same way..."

"Who said anything about climbing?" Kuja turned his lower lip and stuck his chin up. Beckoning for the others who were slowly making their way over, he commanded, "All of you stand within this circle. I'll do the rest." He smirked, striking yet another one of his over-confident poses. All the other three managed to hide their sweatdrops considerably well.

Heeding his advice, though, soon they were snugly fit into the circle of arcane symbols. They looked at the one who had charged them to do what they were doing and waited for further instructions.

In a quick blip and flash, they were turned from staring at Kuja with his uncomfortable smile to the inwards of the Invincible, pulsating with readiness.

They managed to do nothing by gape.

Kuja himself teleported in less than a second later and caught sight of his companions looking terribly confused. He stifled all incoming giggles. "Not that hard now was it?" He winked.

"..." Squall was quick to recover, "... whatever.." he shrugged.

Just as Cloud was about to say something, Zidane let out the biggest yawn he had ever, strolling casually towards the residential rooms of the large airship - ignoring the fact that he wasn't supposed to know the ship so well, having only explored it from the control room to the observatory and nothing more. "Sorry dudes, I think my head has a date with a pillow somewhere... don't mind me!" He waved, indicating that they could go on discussing whatever they wanted to, for his time was with the bed and not in menial talks for now. "I'll rest up a bit and catch up later... g'night!"

They continued to stare until he vanished into the darkness, and until the sound of a door turning on it's hinge to slam shut indicated that he was no longer within seeing or hearing range.

Kuja shrugged. He had seen enough of Zidane's antics to know how jumpy he could be at times. He retreated into the control room anyway. "I'm in line for some rest myself," he told the Cloudy Squall team, "maybe you guys should take a break. We can regroup when we're all ready to talk..."

When the doors to the control room slid shut, Cloud and Squall exchanged glances among themselves.

It looked like there was more between Zidane and Kuja than they had initially thought it to be.

 

\-------------------------------

 

Zidane, for his part, was curled up in the warm sheets of the ship, eyebrows knitted tightly together in concentration. Even in the well controlled room temperature of the room, he was unable to stop beads of cold sweat from rolling off his forehead to stain the sheets.

His reason for discomfort was not leaving him to rest in peace.

 

.

 

He sat up from trying to fall asleep, still reeling from the pounding headache he had gotten since they exited the desert palace. There was something in him that was welling up from within and it threatened to tear him inside out. Zidane coughed, and propped himself up against the bedpost with a pillow for back support, never having felt more irritated and helpless. He closed his eyes, hoping that the pain would just concur a few more times and then leave him.

As he sat there, battling with the stinging spasms, a shape slowly formed from his shadow behind him, which the moonlight cast through the full-length see-through glass windows of the rooms in the Invincible.

Zidane warily turned to see who the new presence was, although he had a rough idea who it could possibly be. Confirming his fears he widened his eyes as a reaction, the soreness in his body fleeing from him for a moment. "YOU!" He cried out, voice lined with irrtation. "Wha- What do you want now?" The pain quickly returned after his outburst and he had to concentrate on battling it instead.

From the darkness, the chosen form of Necron stood, eyeing his mortal avatar with something less than contempt. "I will be departing from your hostage," he spoke out in a disembodied voice, "when the seal is broken and when I am free to travel the darkness once more."

"No way!" Zidane struggled to get to his feet and stood with his back against the window so he could face Necron. "We had a deal! I won't let you do that!"

"Our deal - as you put it - ended," Necron pointed out, "the moment you regained the remembrance of your life."

"That was unintentional!" Zidane tried to reason, "I certainly didn't will for it to happen!"

"Whether or not you willed it to happen, a fact is a fact," Necron explained, "When I first chose to vassal you it was for mutual benefit - you needed power to survive and I had to prey upon a dimming life to foster my continued existence. Memories was the price you had to pay, and captivity was mine."

The blue form looked at Zidane, who had his face contorted in all directions to show how much - or how little, he understood of that expoundation. Figuring it was pointless to dwell on what he had already spoken, the eternal darkness continued, "You are regaining life - and my powers are beginning to clash with your vitality. That is why you are suffering. For gratitude to you for housing me while I was yet weak, I am willing to depart into another avatar before my contradicting forces chokes your being." The bluish figure turned to glance in an unknown direction, beyond the walls of the room. "I can sense a life nearby, far more dim than yours. Once the sorceress' seal is broken, I shall have enough negativity to advance to my next stage of existence."

"I'm not going to let you do that..." Zidane coughed, finding it difficult to breath but struggling on nevertheless, "... if I die, then you won't be able to cause anymore nuisance to the world, would you?" He smiled bitterly. "Then I'd rather die than let you go back to your old ways, buster."

"Strong words for a boy," Necron nodded, "but useless, nevertheless. For I am the Eternal Darkness - and death will only free me from my confinement."

"Well at least I can keep you confined for the rest of my life!" Zidane growled, unhappy at the turn of events and the lack of foresight on his part.

"That will not be for long as well," the blue thing was increasingly getting amused at Zidane's ability to contest his theories, "for a mere mortal cannot house my form for an extended period of time." He paused to let Zidane decide that for himself. "You know better than I do what's happening to you now. I would advise against trying to go against the odds."

"Aw, shut up!" Zidane groaned good naturedly. He slumped against the window and smiled up at the ethereal figure. "I hope you haven't forgotten that we trashed you real bad once."

"........" Necron kept silent. "No doubt, you intend to tell me that you alone can do it again?"

The boy giggled, putting a hand up and shaking it, "Not me alone, buster!" He managed, with much difficulty, to look at Necron straight in his face, "The four of us and the one of you!" He corrected with an evil grin. In an instance he had to wipe it off his face, for the pain of staring at a powerful source was too much for him to bear, not forgetting he had other wracking problems to worry about. He recoiled against himself and pressed up against the window, unable to carry on.

"The determination to live is amazing," Necron slowly dissolved back into the shadows he had manifested himself from, "especially yours, Zidane Tribal."

Not able to do anything but to open a single eye to watch Necron slurp back into himself (kind of disgusting if you really think about it, but we'll skip that XDD), Zidane then closed both eyes tightly and wrestling against the unbearable torture churning inside him.

Before he slipped out of this surreal dream he heard the voice of Necron one last time, as he said, "You have done well so far, and I will hold back the Darkness until I am unable to. May you have broken the seal with your friends until then. Remember that I will keep finding reason to bring all existence back into none. Remember too, the immense power laid within you should you need to draw on it. Your strong will is amazing. May your journey be smooth..."

"Cut the crap Necron..." Zidane stifled a laugh, never one to let the other party have the last word, "... you're rambling... go to sleep..."

 

.

 

Zidane's calm, relaxed features snapped into awareness when he suddenly opened his eyes to find himself staring at the indistinct ceiling of the room he had fallen asleep in.

The ship continued to cruise slowly over the continents, nondescript but familiar looking, in every sense of the phrase.

Zidane got off the bed and slowly made his way to peer out of the windows, putting a hand on the pane, as if believing that if he did that he would be able to touch the land once again. His solitary figure slid down, little by little until finally his knees touched the floor and he leisurely shut his eyes to feel the coolness of the window calming his nerves.

Slowly, he lowered his head into his knees and sat in a fetal position.

"Dagger..." his mumbled in a coarse, dejected voice, "... I don't know if I can make it back alive to you... ?"

 

A close circuit camera moved silently on it's hinges, zooming in and then out of the room. It returned to it's original position, and it's lens flared shut, for it's mission was complete, and the last of it's transmission was already on it's way to the control room, where the person who had requested a security camera check on this room sat in gloomy silence.

 

From his point of view in the room with the red globe, Kuja remained impressively impassive. He knew it hadn't been entirely ethical to spy on Zidane while he was resting, but yet if he had not, he wouldn't have known that the boy had seemingly regained enough of his memories to say the name 'Dagger'. Apparently his nickname for the lovely princess. Slowly he stood and approached the red orb.

"If you're not ready to tell me," Kuja smiled, making his motives undiscernable, "then I'll play along with you, my dear brother..."

The night would pass and dawn would arrive soon enough. Then it would be time for decisive action.

 

\-------------------------------  
yami to no torihiki datta  
18/12/2002


	28. Chapter 28

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
nazo o toku

 

By the time Kuja finished relating the riddle to the rest of the crew, there were enough question marks flying around to feed an entire herd. Of course, he should have seen it coming. He came to a sad conclusion that the heroes of the show often had to have complicated theories extensively narrated to them by the villain only to see the well prepared presentation completely fly over their heads. Then they would fight. And the hero would win. Yaay.

"Whatever it is," Kuja slammed his hand on the table, cross with his companions but unable to advance their intellect within the short period of time they had for riddle solving, "we'll take things from here one step at a time, understand?" He measured out his words carefully, through gritted teeth. His companions could only nod dumbly.

"Firstly," the silver-haired man then sat down on his chair again, "we'll talk about the children of Hyne."

"I think I remember that part of the riddle," Squall spoke out meekly, "something about them residing where their heart is?"

"That is correct," Kuja nodded, "the children of Hyne - the sorceresses responsible for all this time compression hoohaa. It's because of their whimsical desires that the four of us are in such a fix. That's why we need to find them first, then the riddle says time will be solved."

"In particular it talks about the 'chosen child'..." Cloud finished scribbling on something and brandished his work for all to see, "... tadah! Here's a writing of the riddle - it'll be much easier for us to refer to something tangible than depend on our scratchy memory."

Looks of sheer disbelief were tossed in his direction. Those words coming from the most careless of persons - Cloud Strife, no less, was like a new revelation. Nevertheless they spread the paper with the riddle on the table and continued their discussion.

"Untie the knots in the chosen child... reside where their heart is..." Zidane pondered aloud, "I don't know why, Squall, but this phrase looks like it's related to you."

"......................................" was Squall's powerful reply.

"Perhaps the chosen child is the sorceress Ultimecia?" Cloud piped, "After all, she was the one who inherited the will of Hyne and got what she wanted - time compression."

"And when the coin reacted to you, the word 'heart' appeared," Kuja, and everyone else turned to look at Squall, who was quietly mumbling something to himself. "Either that coin is a clue to the whereabouts of the sorceress, or the coin is trying to point us to Squall, who may know where this sorceress of eternity resides."

At that, Squall shrugged. "How would I know where Ultimecia is?"

Cloud eyed the boy cautiously, knowing that the SeeD knew it and knew what Cloud was trying to question by mere virtue of his glance. "Are you sure about that?"

Silence passed the foursome for a short moment. Squall closed his eyes.

When he opened them he sighed rather resignedly. "I don't know if she'll still be there or anything, but I can tell you where we found her and supposedly defeated her." He scribbled something on a loose piece of rough paper and handed it to Kuja, who blinked once and then fed it to the crimson coloured sphere.

"According to the data about the maps we've found out about Gaia and Terra so far..." Kuja waited until a holographic screen shimmered to life in front of the four of them, "... 'Edea's House' can be reached, on Gaia, via time compression, from the northmost region of the Lost Continent."

"Then what are we waiting for, let's go!" Zidane shook his fist in the air. He was quickly smacked down by an incoming boot. "Hey!" He protested as he fell brusquely to the floor.

"Shut up if you don't have any better idea than 'let's go'!" Kuja growled, magically retrieving his boot, sitting down again to wear it. Zidane remained motionless on the floor, earning him several looks of pity from his other more calm companions. Not willing to be the recipient of yet another boot, they quietly let the meeting continue it's way. "We'll set off for the sorceress in a while, what's next on our agenda now, Mr. Strife?" He nodded at the blond mercenary, who had the paper in his hands and quickly referred to it.

"Four warriors of time will journey to erase the mistakes of Hyne..." he read aloud, then blinked, "... I'm guessing this refers to us."

"Um, like, what's this 'mistake of Hyne'?" Squall was curious. "And how are we supposed to erase it?"

Nobody knew the answer.

"Definitely something to do with the sorceress, anyway I see it," Kuja lowered his eyes and continued, "it's the next part that should be cause for concern."

"Four will fall, three will rise..." Cloud read out again, "..." he kept in silent contemplation about the import of those words, but didn't pause for long as he resumed reading, "... The eternal darkness repressed, the final destiny awaits..."

There was a long silence after that.

"I'm assuming the repetitive garble that comes after all this is part of the riddle of the sorceress' seal," Squall took the paper over from Cloud and briefly glanced through what the rest of the text contained.

"You're probably right." Kuja sighed. "Well, what do you know, we have one heck of an agenda to go through with now." He started counting off his fingers. "1, we travel to the Lost Continent and find the spot of the sorceress seal. 2, we break the seal. 3, we get to where the sorceress is using time compression. Or decompression. Whatever works. 4, we trash her real bad. 5, we decompress time, return to our respective eras, and live happily ever after. Any questions?" He glanced around to see Cloud taking notes, Squall looking utterly flabbergasted, and Zidane finally managing to climb up from the floor.

"Yes sir, question!" The monkey quickly raised his hand upon claiming his seat back.

"Yes Zidane, you may shoot," Kuja pointed at the ever inquisitive student.

"Well..." Zidane started counting off his fingers as well, "... 1, how are we going to find the exact spot of the seal? 2, how can we break it? 3, how in the world do we compress time?! 4, trashing ladies ain't my style! Oof! Ouch! That hurt, Kuja! Anyway, and 5, how in the world do we decompress time??"

Kuja restrained himself from throwing the other boot at Zidane. "Don't worry about the seal, that's what the Invincible is here for."

"We wouldn't know how to break the seal if we just thought about it," Cloud intercepted, "the riddle looks tough, so maybe we can figure more things out if we actually saw the seal. As for compressing and decompressing time..." He put a finger to his chin. "That, I sure as anything do not know."

*I can do that.* A voice boomed in Zidane's subconsciousness, forcing him to recline against himself with a whimper. Fortunately, nobody noticed.

*Shut up, Necron!* Zidane thought back to the entity within him. *Talking to you hurts like mad! Go away!*

In a short while the pain became much more bearable. Perhaps even Necron was trying to figure out what made him even hint at wanting to help the foursome with their trials. After all, his sole purpose in existence was to seek and destroy, wasn't it?

"I've been thinking of something else..." Cloud's voice drew Zidane back to reality. Everybody looked at him as he carried on, "... can the Invincible withstand all this time compress-decompress thing, should we use it as a form of transportation... ?"

Everybody remained considerably silent until Squall offered his view, "I'm sure an airship like this could withstand time compression - the one I was on was able to during my time... I'm just not sure if it'll still be in one piece if we were to travel into the future time..."

"Perhaps we need to find a ship that can traverse time without decaying with age?" Kuja rose to full height and turned around, meaning to approach the globe to navigate the ship while they talked. "I hardly think that there will be a ship that can do that."

"Hmmm..." Zidane was also pondering something, "... what about Ark?" he wondered aloud, realizing that he said something he shouldn't have too late only when Kuja shot a sharp, questioning glance in his direction.

His two other companions, however, did not understand. "Ark?" Squall mused.

Zidane was surprised that the silver-haired genome didn't pursue the issue, choosing instead to return to navigation and explanation, saying, "Ark was a summon as far as I knew it. It was also appointed to guard a Terran artifact in Gaia."

"So it was a ship?" Cloud asked.

"In every sense of the word, yes," Kuja replied, "and being a timeless guardian, as well as an alien summon, must mean that it would be able to transcend the ailing effects of time."

Squall whistled. "Too bad I don't have a guardian force like this."

"Neither do I." Cloud added. "So essentially nobody here can summon that Ark guy isn't it? That officially brings us back to square one." He sighed.

"What about the other summons?" Zidane meekly suggested. "Isn't there any other summon we could call on to act as transportation... ?"

Cloud and Squall eyed him curiously. Kuja was the one who eventually spoke up, saying, "Who or what do you think the summoned creatures are, Zidane? Monsters at your beck and call? Objects you can take a ride on? With the exception of a few, these creature are usually high-leveled beings from another dimension who deign to grant assistance to the one they think worthy." As he stopped, the Invincible roared to life and began it's conclusive journey towards the ends of the planet. "So, no, I don't think just any summon is going to be available as transport."

Sheepishly, the monkey-boy rubbed the back of his head and turned to looking at the floor in discomfort.

The engines of the Invincible kept droning on. Cloud examined the riddle by reading it over and over again, while Squall kept on looking outside the windows of the ship, taking in the whole of the land with mild interest. Zidane was quiet at first, but soon he began to pace - occassionally looking a little unwell, looking like he was battling some inner demon. Kuja kept on egging the Invincible on to it's destination.

The destination that would mark the start of the end of their long journey.

Squall was the first to notice the shimmering blots of dark and light energy tendrils whipping around each other. He was about to point it out when the Invincible rocked in it's foundations, quaking and trembling like it was in fear of the apparition ahead of it. From afar he could hear Kuja mutter something pretty much uncouth. As he watched on he could detect the cause of their inability to proceed. The energy gathered around the spot they were headed for was so massive it sent out it's effervescence in the form of aerial ripples, effectively stopping all incoming traffic.

Left with no choice, they had to make the Invincible retreat. Although the ship was made out of the finest and could stand for all sorts of attacks, they were certainly not going to risk their only ways of getting around to try to barge into a situation they knew they would lose in. As soon as they were stable, all four of them gathered to look at what was going on outside.

"Major magical madness!" Zidane tooted.

"I think the correct term is, the sorceress' seal," Kuja frowned at the younger genome's distortion.

"Whatever the thing is," Zidane grinned up at the uptight older person, "it's something that's stopping us from getting to where we're getting!"

"He's right," Cloud nodded.

"But we have to get into that seal." Squall murmured, loud enough to be heard nevertheless. "That's the only way we can initiate any form of time magick."

"Zidane himself was pretty good with all this time thing... sometimes," Cloud managed to stop himself from unveiling too much that Zidane had already regained his memory, and was probably unable to do all the time thing anymore. But at that moment, he just felt obliged to say a bit about the monkey boy.

The genome in question was hardly about to resist the tease. "Maybe there's a time mage in me waiting to be discovered..." He promptly threw a wink in everybody else's direction.

Kuja gathered everybody and handed coins out. He took the one which already had the words 'the final destiny' engraved on one side and handed the one with 'heart' to Squall. The rest, he dumped into Cloud's outstretched palms and watched as one of the coins glowed with the same shrill aura it did when reacting to one of them, to come up with yet another word engraved on it.

"View?" Cloud was bemused. Kuja took the other empty coin from him and gave it to Zidane, who in turn, reacted with the coin and made it come up with yet another word.

He looked at the coin and blinked. "Feel..." He recited the word on the coin with muted interest. "Heart, view, feel, final destiny... why do they all sound so familiar... ?" He took to looking at the ceiling, hoping it would refresh his memory.

"It's the riddle, blockhead." Kuja reminded. He could literally see lightbulbs flash to life atop everybody else's head. He heaved a sigh. Sometimes, he wondered why he even tried. Ignoring the stupidity of his companions he studied the coin with apt concentration. "........ anyway, there's something about these coins that's been bothering me. We know they're magically imbued, we just don't know how come, and what for."

"Well now's as good a time as any to try!" Zidane yelped like an excited puppy. Without a second thought, he gained control of the red sphere and immediately piloted the ship vertically upwards so they could reach the upper boundaries of the seal without wracking the ship inside out. Of course, in the event, he forgot that there were other people in the same room with him, who did not enjoy the advantages given to the pilot of the airship. They were tossed and turned around as the ship traveled on 90-degree curves until they soared above the seal. Then, without explaining anything whatsoever, he threw the coin he had been given into the heart of the red throbbing globe.

"Zidane!" Kuja was the first to come up to him and throttle him proper. "What in the world did you think you were doing?!"

"Breaking the seal, what else?" Zidane turned to look at his older brother with mock tears in his eyes as he held the fresh lump on his head. By now, the coin he had tossed down had surfaced, floating around limply at the threshold of the globe, glowing with an aura stranger than before. "The riddle, I've clean forgotten what it really was," Zidane began, "but since it talked about the heart, the view, the feel and the final destiny, might as well throw them all into the magic amplifier and then pile an ultima spell down to crush whatever barrier the sorceress has built up, no?" He pointed at the coin swimming around happily in the globe. "See, it's already picking up momentum. I think the coin and that orb love each other."

"What kind of an analysis is that??" Kuja was at a loss. Zidane has such twisted reasoning, sometimes you didn't even know how to start arguing with him. Before he could begin his long speech on why they should sit down and think things out again, Cloud had come by and tossed his own coin into the circle of red. Kuja blinked at him. "Not you too?"

The blond mercenary just shrugged. "Well if it doesn't work, we can think of another way to break that powerful seal. For now, I think that brute force could probably shatter that barrier pretty effectively."

"As do I." Squall chimed in unison, placing the coin he had into the placeholder and standing back.

All of them eyed the more level-headed of the group.

Who then tossed his arms into the air and put his own piece in as well.

The coins swirled and went around each other quickly. They formed a rather remarkable formation when they eventually stopped spinning, capturing the audience's attention.

"Somebody remember this pattern," was the only words Kuja recalled hearing himself say, before, "... and anybody who can shoot an Ultima spell get ready to do it!"

Cloud and Squall immediately drew upon their spellbooks.

"Ready..." Kuja had a spell slowly gaining intensity upon his withdrawn right hand.

"... GO!!"

Zidane watched, wide-eyed as indescribable green sparkles burst out seemingly from another dimension, which laid beyond the hands of his comrades currently casting the spell, and embrace the scarlet coloured orb with the coins. The room was overloaded with brightness, and all the boy could see for a while was the bold outlines of his friends locked in concentration. When things resumed their original colour, he noted with slight confusion that none of them appeared to be looking very happy. And neither did they stop forcing the spell upon the amplifier. He blinked. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"The seal is nearly broken," Kuja explained, "... but the energy isn't enough."

"And Ultima isn't a spell that can be cast for an extended period of time..." Cloud shook his head.

"But if we stop now," Squall spoke up, "the sorceress would be alerted to our presence with this huge energy interference... and she'll probably be taking further measures... we can't let that happen... we have to try to break the seal now... !"

*That sounded like it came right out from a bad movie script.* Zidane averted his eyes and thought to himself out of exasperation. He was powerless to help, and he knew it.

Then a pain hit him in his gut, reminiscent of the time when Necron invaded his vitality to speak to him at length. It effectively jolted his remembrance of the conversation he had with Necron.

*Remember that I will keep finding reason to bring all existence back into none.*

Of course, Zidane wouldn't ever let him find any reason in him to do that. But he thought of what he had heard next from Necron and frowned silently.

*Remember too, the immense power laid within you should you need to draw on it...*

He shut his eyes and let a chilling factor overtake his being for some time. He knew he had to help if they were going to go on. But he also knew that it wasn't possible for him to learn the Ultima spell in two split seconds. However, given the fact that Necron had somewhat permitted him to draw upon the vast reservoir of Darkness within him, he assumed that he would have enough spiritual energy to at least try - with the help of an assistant item. He quickly requested for one, "Hey, anybody has any item that can cast an Ultima spell here?"

Squall was the only one who responded to that by eyeing the genome weirdly. Still, he used his free hand to draw the Ultima stone from the inventory and toss it to Zidane. "Try that." He murmured, too overpowered by his own casting of the spell to be of any real help.

The bright-haired bandit quickly ran up to an available space beside his comrades, concentrating on drawing the essence of the stone out. Kuja stared at him like he was mad. "You?" He asked, incredulous, "Are you sure you're strong enough to cast a spell like that?"

"Won't know until I try!" Zidane opened his eyes and got into a ready position, wild energy exploding and imploding on his right hand. As much as he had power, Zidane certainly wasn't in control of a tough spell as such. What shocked the others most was how close his eyes came to be taken over by the same darkness they had seen before, until Zidane blinked and regained his original eye colour, turning to grin like a hangdog at Kuja.

"Um, you know what, Kuja?" He began, slowly, "... I think I can remember everything about the past now."

The silver-haired man looked at the younger genome from the corner of his eye, raising an eyebrow. "And you know what, Zidane?" He asked, voice outlined with silent evil.

"I knew it all along."

But Zidane's sight was no longer locked with Kuja's. He was staring at the globe with a genuine smile and delight. And the spell in his hand burst forth to swallow the red globe, rendering it green for a moment.

 

.

 

The eye of the Invincible widened at the new lease of energy granted it, and sent a stream of incredible power towards the weakening shell. Hairline cracks spread all over the barrier, until it broke with a loud sound, like a gigantic egg being thrown against the hard ground. The barrier flew outwards in imaginary shards, opening up to reveal a realm of foreboding darkness, sucking the airship into it's embrace.

The four of them quickly halted their spells and took some time to regain their spiritual balance. Zidane let go of the Ultima stone and it slid across the floor with a loud noise, still shimmering with the aftereffects of being drawn upon. The bandit could only gape and wonder at how he had even managed to pull that off, considering he knew nuts about magic except that it was shiny. His attention, as well as the others, were soon attracted to an entity outside the window.

"My children..." it definitely sounded female, "... why do you fight time... ?"

They entered whole into the dark dimension, and the entrance they had opened sealed up once again from behind them. The ship approached the decayed golden turret of an ominous palace and found itself witness to a scene of apparent coronation.

A form in dark hoods laid her hand over another, in a light blue outfit.

"Rinoa!" Squall was shocked. But before he could say anymore, the Invincible began to tremble with a great might. The SeeD glanced upwards to see that the ceiling was crumbling, succumbing quickly to age, beyond logical comprehension.

And it was only but a mere start to their perils.

From afar, the once majestic Invincible, in all it's alien blue glory, disintegrated against the full moon in the background and fell into the darkness that was below, never again to see a day of light.

 

\-------------------------------  
nazo o toita  
20/12/2002


	29. Chapter 29

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
taikanshiki da

 

"Oookay, this is nooot looking gooood~~" Zidane fumbled around, trying to get his feet on firm ground. His arms flailed and he caught hold of a railing for support. That didn't last long, however, for soon the railing fell apart and he was without backing again. "GAAH! What's going on?!"

The metal arched, making the inwards of the Invincible cave in. "We're in biiig trouble!" Cloud sputtered.

"Tell me something I don't know!" Squall jibed, struggling with his own feet himself.

"It looks like the Invincible isn't going to be able to survive this sudden time race!" Kuja was desperately trying to get the decaying airship to obey. At that poignant moment in time a large chunk of the roof fell in and slammed a hole into the floor, attracting the attention of all four of them.

"We'd better get out of here!" Zidane, with great effort, leapt over the debris and joined his comrades.

"You think we can make it to the castle before we plummet into the darkness beneath it?" Squall pointed amidst the shaking and rumbling of the Invincible.

"Won't know until we try!" Cloud cleared away a hole in the wall with his massive sword and glanced outside. "Better than collapsing with the ship altogether!"

Without waiting for a response, he took a step on the hole and leapt outside.

"He's right, no point languishing around something that's going to die," Kuja shook his head, and quickly exited from where Cloud had.

Squall and Zidane turned to stare at one another. Squall shrugged, and Zidane sighed.

"Here goes nothing!" The tail boy shrieked and followed in the footsteps of his fellow warriors, stretching himself as much as possible as soon as he left the grounds of the dying airship. He knew Squall was hot on his heels, and could vaguely see the other two somewhere nearby, also on the same course he was.

Behind them, the Invincible held on for one second more, and then shattered into pieces to fall down as dust into the moat of obscurity.

As he fell, Zidane stared at the pitch darkness that was beneath his feet, finding himself magnetically pulled in by the awesome ambiance it was emitting. It was cool, and comfortable. Zidane never thought he would love the callous shade as much as he did, but he must admit that something inside him drew him to the darkness, which looked like it would welcome him as well.

Quickly he shook himself to his senses. "I can't believe myself!" He muttered and assessed his predicament. There was no way he was going to be able to reach the castle. He needed to do something and he needed to do something fast.

*I wish I could summon Ark!* He swore to himself. Then a dark feeling stirred from within, making him pay attention once more to the sharp pain he had now grown to associate with Necron. He blinked. *... Maybe I CAN summon Ark!* He dug around his own inventory, nervously hoping that the item was still there. A moment later his eyes flashed like he had touched gold - which was quite true in a sense. He fished out the Pumice from one of his hidden pockets and immediately began to concentrate like he had when he held the Ultima stone in his hand.

The effect was instantaneous. Zidane hadn't needed to really do much. The air around him stiffened and grew into balls of dark energy, swirling around his form, picking up speed as they completed a round. A queasy feeling at the bottom of his stomach drew Zidane to open his eyes, which he found to be a surmounting task.

When he did managed to open his eyes, all he could see was the blood he had coughed onto his hands.

"Chi!!" He wiped the blood first off his face, then off his hands. He felt like his entire body heat was moving to his brains and cooking it alive. Needless to say it was a very very uncomfortable experience. "Aaarrrgh!!" Zidane could only make a random noise as he held the Pumice with both his hands, determined to complete the summon which took even Garnet days to master. Subconsciously he decided that he would lay off any spell casting for the rest of his life should he survive this. Chuckling despite the torturous pain, he called upon the last of his reserves.

A rumbling came from the moat which seemed to stretch down forever.

It got progressively louder.

Until finally, an immense ship pierced through the thick darkness to approach the soft but ominous light the castle basked itself in.

Ark immediately drew near to the one who had summoned it, cushioning him even as he continued falling. Zidane sat down heavily, exhausted. The only thing that kept him going on was the adrenaline rush, and how excited he was at being able to summon something. "You're not so useless after all, Zidane!" He laughed at himself, then fell flat on his back to gain a bit of rest before the rest of his companions climbed aboard. He smiled, and turned to one side to try stop the internal pain from giving him any further problems.

The more magically inclined of his companions, however, had already either Levitated or Floated towards the castel battlements. That did not stop them, however, from whipping around to gasp in awe when the imposing figure of Ark shot up from beneath the castle to poise itself regally in the air, waiting for something to happen.

"My goodness." Cloud gulped. "This is one big creature."

"Ark..." Kuja frowned, "... don't tell me... Zidane?"

As if on cue, Zidane's head popped out from one of the ledges of the helicopter-like structure of the massive summon creature. "Hey guys~~ !" He grinned like a cheshire cat, waving madly.

Ark slowly neared the turrets, sidling up until it had a close fit against the castle walls. After exchanging a few questioning glances with each other, the threesome then boarded the ship-summon thingie, to be warmly greeted by enigmatic genome, hopping around with obligation.

"I did it!" He was nearly squealing. "I can summon too!"

"Cool..." Squall blinked. He tested the floor. It was definitely wooden. "... and you can even make the summon listen to you, that's very very cool..."

A blast from aerial east forced them to save their pleasantries until a later time, for they had company. It was an unknown sorceress all decked out in robes and gear who had shot that spell. Of course, she was then quickly chased away with a strong Firaga, but that didn't stop her companions from then closing in upon the team after she went down. It looked like it would be a long battle.

"Forget them!" Squall's commanding voice burst into everybody's eardrums, no doubt going to make them ring for a week after this, "We have to return to that main turret just now and stop the coronation!"

Cloud would have loved to 'forget them', as Squall had said, but unfortunately he could not, for if he did then the ship would be roast and toast in no time. Kuja, however, stopped attacking and looked meaningfully at the flustered boy, who was currently too busy trying to locate the turret to notice anything else.

"Right on, sir!" Zidane was the only one who seemed to be really paying attention to Squall. He then put a foot atop one of the abandoned cannon barrels and pointed. "Onwards, Ark! Onwards to where Squall says there's a coronation going on!"

If Ark could sweatdrop, it very well would have.

Nevertheless the sentient object obeyed and rounded the colossal castle in search of their original spot of arrival. Cloud continued to fend off the sorceresses on their mission to protect the castle with Kuja, and Squall was too busy staring here and there to be of any real help. They were all happily doing their own thing until Zidane's voice sounded out over the air, "HAAALLLTT!!"

Ark screeched to a halt as instructed. Cloud and Kuja finished striking down the last of the sorceresses and quickly turned to join their companions. Squall had his classic look of suspended despair plastered all over his face as he locked his line of vision upon the coronation, which was still going on. At his obstinacy everybody also decided to revel in the situation, staring mindlessly at the event unfolding before their eyes.

"Time..." A quiet, lonely voice was saying, "... if I had time... if only I had time..." her shoulders trembled slightly, but her voice betrayed nothing, "... then he wouldn't... he wouldn't have left... he wouldn't have gone... gone without me... and now it's just me... in this big, friendless world..."

She paused.

"If only I had time..." she repeated, a tinge of despair evident in her voice, "... If only I had time..."

Although he was sure it was Rinoa who had just said that, Squall remained poker-faced. He knew it wasn't wise to act now when he didn't really have the full picture. As immensely worried as he was, Squall was unable to bring himself to intefere. "Rinoa..." he muttered under his breath with a deep frown, "... what happened... ?"

"I just want to be with him again!" The girl suddenly cried, taking everyone aback, "Isn't there anything I can do?"

"You poor, poor child..." it was the figure hooded in black, "... of course there is a way. You are a sorceress. Look into the powers inherent in you. Then tell me what you see."

For a while, they could hear nothing but the winds.

"Time does not wait for you..." the girl spoke out, almost in a whisper, "... but you can force it to..."

"Your time with the one you love is over," the hooded black figure continued, "... but is it truly over? Surely there must be something a powerful, ageless sorceress like yourself can do?"

"... time..." Rinoa mouthed, as ripples of dark energy cascaded outwards from the soles of her feet, chilling one to the bones by merely looking at how the dark fog embraced the foggy air, "... compression..." she finished.

"Well said my child," one could almost see the older person grin beneath the hood, "that shall be your destiny from now on... When the technology and age ripens you shall ride upon it and return to your time to compress it, only then, will you be able to get what you desire..."

"Time compression..." Rinoa repeated it like it was a chant, "... time compression..."

"It is the only way you can get back what you have lost," the older voice was unrelenting, "this shall be the ultimatum of your eternal time from now on."

She spread her palm over Rinoa's dark locks, and a burst of energy more sinister than any of the four onlookers had ever seen before surrounded the girl and slowly dissolved into her being. Squall began to grow agitated. No matter which time period they were now in, Rinoa would always be Rinoa, and there was no other more important person in his life. He didn't ask, or make any indication that he was going to jump. And he jumped.

"Wait!" Cloud was close to tearing his hair out in frustration at the loose cannon of the team. "What the heck do you think you're doing?!"

Even Zidane had this look of utter incomprehension on his face as he stared at the descending figure of Squall. Kuja merely sighed, saying, "He's as unpredictable as his name indicates... though I wonder which self-respecting parent would give his kid a name like 'Squall'... or 'Cloud' for that matter..." He put a finger to his chin and muttered softly to himself, oblivious to the fact that Cloud had supersonic hearing and had nearly choked when Kuja uttered those words.

Squall had landed onto the steeple roof by this time, and rushed to where Rinoa was still standing. "Rinoa!" He grabbed her hand and spun her around. "It's me, Rinoa! I-" He halted suddenly, rendered dumbstruck at what he saw. Rinoa stared up at the boy with irises rimmed with gold, and a soft curl of the lips mocking at everything, at everyone in her path.

"Rinoa?" She almost laughed, "I am the chosen of Hyne, the ultimate child!" and continued, "Nothing shall stop me from getting what I want!"

She put a hand on Squall, and sent him blasting to the other end of the tower roof. "Ri... Rinoa... !" He whimpered as he climbed painfully to his feet, realization slowly setting in, "... how... how can this be... ?? We were... we were fighting you - fighting you all along??!"

"No, indeed!" The dark cloaked figure jested, and placed a hand on Rinoa's shoulder. "You weren't fighting this child at all, you were all just pitting yourselves against the will of Hyne!"

"The will... of Hyne... ?" Squall barely managed to chime before coughing up blood where the blast had hit. Behind him, his companions had descended the Ark and were rushing to where he was now at.

"Squall!" His friends gathered around him and Cloud immediately began to administer curative processes. Only Zidane and Kuja turned to face the sorceresses as the older one continued her discourse.

"Hyne could see that her world would end in destruction, as a result of too much development, too much technology, and too many people..." she began, "... and so loved she her world that she would not see it fit to let it happen... Blessed with the gift of elongated life, and further blessed with the gift to pass her will to those who fit her requirements, Hyne saw that she had an eternity to try to bring her beautiful world back to her, for all ever..."

Slowly, but surely, the backdrop as well as the dark hooded being flickered and dissipitated into the atmosphere, thrusting all of them into a realm of contorted images, where there wasn't a ground but still they were standing on something of support, and where there weren't walls but still they found they couldn't even begin to feel their way out. With one of them down and three to go, it really looked like the oracle of Oeilvert was beginning to see it's fulfilment.

"Rinoa! Come back!" Squall cried out one last time before his comrades dragged him across the floor of the creepy dominion they had been sent to. The sorceress slowly gathered strength into her palms and readied her next spell.

"Maelstrom!!" She made it rain gravity and effectively sealed the movements of the foursome. Caught off guard, all of them sustained considerable damage as well. Cloud found it in himself to swear politely. He managed to lift the bracelet with some materia attached to it nevertheless.

"Shell!" He brought the barrier up and stopped the gravity from beating down on them. With his free hand he pointed the Ultima Weapon at the sorceress and took advantage of the recovery time the sorceress had to spend to gather his senses for what he hoped would be the final showdown. "Knights of the-... !!" A tight hand around his ankle jolted him from concentration and he stopped the summon. Glancing downward, he wasn't very surprised to find a heavily injured Squall hanging onto his foot with the last of his strength.

"Don't... no, don't do it!" The SeeD could hardly breath properly.

"Are you crazy, Squall?!" Zidane was shocked beyond imagination. Throughout their travels, he had always thought of the sombre teenager to be a rational, emotionless boy. The sight of him getting agitated over a girl - a SORCERESS no less, who was trying to destroy them, was sorely out of Zidane's grasp.

"NO! I'm not!" Squall let go of Cloud's ankle and struggled to his feet. He looked straight into the sorceress Rinoa's eye and instantly his face softened with pity and regret. "It's not her!" His voice was near breaking. "It's not her fault! She doesn't know! She doesn't know what she's doing!" He gritted his teeth before continuing, "It's not wrong to want to turn back time! It's not wrong to want to go back to your happiest moment in life!"

"But what's wrong is that she's trying to destroy the happy moments of other people to regain her own!" Zidane shouted back above the roaring winds and the intensive exchange of spells and dispels. Kuja was standing by as Cloud single-handedly attempted to tackle the powerful attacks of the sorceress, but he also had a listening ear on the conversation between the two teenagers. "Do you think she's the only person in the world who deserves to be happy?!" Zidane empathetically stretched his arms in a questioning pose.

"Of course not!" Squall shook his head angrily. "But you just can't kill her!" He stubbornly insisted.

"Why you-" Zidane had a fist balled up and was more than ready to smack the silly boy upside down. He found that he could not bring the fist down, and turned to see who was it that was obstructing him. "Kuja!" He then shook his hand free from Kuja's clench. "Let me teach this stubborn prick a lesson!" He growled, and was about to return to beating the crap out of the already injured Squall when he was stopped again.

"Squall's right, Zidane," Kuja quietly offered.

"What?! Not you too?!" The monkey boy's tail was now moving in 90 degree curves as a form of his indignation. "What's wrong with all of you today?!"

"Cut down with the screams and shouts," the older genome looked at them both, dead serious, "I meant he was right in that there's no point wasting anymore time to attack the sorceress now, especially when she's in the peak of her sorcery," he stared at Squall as he continued, "I didn't mean that we shouldn't give up on fighting her if we had the time, of course."

That seemed to calm both Squall and Zidane down. The latter then kicked an imaginary object on the ground and looked to a side in frustration.

"What we should do now is get out of this realm," Kuja explained, "and then use that gigantic force inside you, Zidane, to jar time enough to at least send us back to our respective epochs." Zidane started at that, turning to stare at Kuja with saucers for eyes. "Don't look at me like that, I know a lot more than you think I do..." He rewarded the shocked Zidane with a feline wink.

"Well whatever you're doing, hurry up already!" Cloud's disgruntled voice was heard over a clash of Firaga and Blizzaga.

"You won't be able to escape from this dimension," the sorceress' voice came straight after, "for this is a realm which is beyond time compression. You will not be able to find your way out."

"We won't know until we try!" Kuja's cheery voice sent more chills up the spines of his comrades than the sorceress' spells would have. He spun around and pointed at Zidane, who saluted. "On the count of three, Zidane! Summon Ark!" He ordered.

"Yes sir!" Zidane quickly grabbed hold onto the Pumice and readied himself. As he concentrated, however, he began to grow more and more worried. He stared at the back of Kuja, unable to see what the older genome's expressions were. Still that did not stop him from fretting.

What if what Necron said was true?

What if the dimming lifeforce he wanted to claim was Kuja's?

What if this was the last chance he had to keep Necron trapped within himself?

"Don't worry about me, stupid boy," Kuja suddenly turned his head to offer Zidane a know-it-all smile.

"I know a lot more than you think I do."

Zidane's eyes widened, not for the first time already that day. It was as if Kuja could read his mind.

"Ready Squall? Ready Zidane?" Kuja lifted his hands up in mock conduct of an orchestra.

"Anytime..." Squall held onto his wound and managed to say.

"Yup yup!" Zidane smiled in agreement, although something else was troubling him.

Kuja had obviously asked Squall to do something as well, but Zidane completely missed that while being drowned out in his own thoughts. He didn't think it should be of any big concern, but something just tugged at the back of his mind, telling him that perhaps it truly should be a big concern.

He had no more time to think, for Kuja's voice told him that he had better let his mind dwell in real life than in itself.

"On the count of three, then!"

 

\-------------------------------  
taikanshiki datta  
21/12/2002


	30. Chapter 30

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
monogatari da

 

Cloud was running low on energy, and the sorceress wasn't giving him enough time to gulp down any item that would refresh him in that aspect. He had heard of how women can be really persistent when pissed, but this was completely new. Besides the initial Maelstrom, the sorceress hadn't needed any other recovery time at all. He could feel himself getting slower with each progressive spell. And he wasn't gaining any ground at all. He couldn't even get near within 3 metres of the sorceress to swing his blade at her without bumping into one Shell or another.

He swigged another long spell sequence and duck-rolled quickly so he could rest a bit and check on his comrades. Kuja had a triumphant hand in the air, with Zidane and Squall flanking him left and right. It looked like he had a perfect plan for thwarting the sorceress. Or so Cloud hoped.

"Hey Cloud, get out of the way!" Kuja pointed, ever so gracefully, at the mercenary who wasn't exactly having the time of his life.

"I wish I could!" Cloud replied, trying to imitate Kuja's pout, as he barely managed to avoid getting impaled by a loose icicle from a strong Blizzaga. He came to a sliding stop in front of the rest of his comrades, holding his huge blade outwards in preparation of any further attack from the opponent. "You sound like you have a fool-proof plan!" He managed to jibe while staring at the red mage from the corner of his eye.

"Maybe, maybe not," was Kuja's mysterious response.

"Enough!" It was the sorceress, and she didn't sound very happy. To bring her point across, she raised a finger and summoned a thick fog to surround the foursome.

"Oh, great..." Zidane's voice could be heard somewhere from within the fog. He didn't sound very happy either.

The fog progressively got thicker. Like a few thousand giant spiders had spun webs of oblivion around the four. They always said the darkness was impenetrable, but it appeared that the same also applied to all that was white. At least there were still sounds of the wind rushing against your ears. It would be horrid if nothing could be heard.

Soon, a dull silence settled over the group. Their senses were high on the alert, but it was unlikely that this would last for a long time. Between the continuous fog and the quickly being worn down heroes, it was a battle of patience and time they were definitely losing.

Zidane's eyes darted here and there. Being the most restless of the lot didn't contribute to the situathon. The Pumice glowed momentarily in his hand, then a sharp pain attacked him from within. Growling, he mentally cursed Necron to the ends of the universe and back, struggling at the same time to retain his emotional balance. He wasn't sure if what he saw next was an illusion or the real thing, but his body didn't really care. He was aching to do something, and even if it meant slashing at empty air, he would do it.

"En garde!" The boy tried to sound as playful as he could so his comrades could tell that he was trying to inject life into the dead atmosphere. Unfortunately, his strained voice coupled with the still throbbing sensation in his guts contributed to a more estranged pitch than Zidane had initially thought it would turn out to be. He winced.

"What? What??" Cloud was heard next. Even if he was not within sight, one could quite literally see him turning his head all around in confusion. "What is it??" He continued to ask, confused.

Zidane struck out at the image of the sorceress he thought he saw - and hit thin air. He quickly balanced himself on both feet and grinned. Not that anybody could see it, of course. "Sorry guys! Just got tricked by an illusion, good old Zidane!" He nodded and started scouring the whitish terrain for a shadow of someone familiar again. "At least it gave me something to do, you know?"

There was complete silence.

"Um, guys?" The golden-haired genome paused. He bit his lower lip and waited for a response.

And, there was none.

"Oookay, now this isn't funny at all, guys," the flustered bandit started walking, gradually gaining speed, until he finally was running, "Where are you guys? Hey, don't ignore me! Say something!"

Hostile sounds of cloth rustled from behind him. Zidane seized himself up and spun around, daggers at bay, quietly contemplating the terrain with sharp eyes. He looked to the left and right, and saw only the same thing. White. Pure white. The unsullied, pasty colour of purity and innocence. Definitely misleading. The genome's eyes narrowed. And the first flash of the supernatural skill known to all as Blizzara shot at him from the left, forcing him into a crouch.

Zidane managed to roll before the next spell destroyed where he had been crouching at. The mists cleared - recoiled against itself as the sorceress stepped into view in her new costume, with wards of ancient authority inscribed perfectly over her exposed skin. Of course, the usual Zidane would take this wonderful opportunity to balk and then chat up whoever was a soul as daring as such, but this was simply not the time for that. Instead Zidane began to take steps backwards, all the time never taking his eyes off the dangerous figure, as well as the surrounding, should the figure even be an illusion.

"My child," the sorceress spoke, "you are the one."

The genome kept quiet. Although his tail was a flurry of defiant movements.

The silence saw that the sorceress rose one hand into the skies, the majestic dark feathers perched on her shoulders following suit. The technicoloured surroundings visibly shuddered, then started to spiral around itself in a wormhole around her outstretched hand. "You are the one I must destroy!" She hid no malice from that statement, and with forceful strength directed the power she had gathered towards the hapless Zidane.

Pure power descended upon him before he realized what was going on. Gravity pulled at the soles of his feet, making him unable to move. "What the-" He tried - and failed, to get his body out of the primordial looking pattern of archaic symbols. Words continued to write itself in a perfect circle around him, until he was finally wholly consumed by the force it exerted.

"This," the sorceress Ultimecia calmly uttered, "is your Holy Judgment," as a blinding streak of light erupted from the core of the ward to attack their only target - the one they would judge, who was standing atop their court. Zidane's mouth opened to say something, but it was drowned out by the noise of the screams and shouts of previously maligned individuals, torn by force from their existence into one of despair. He was pulled into another dimension, where he would receive his punishment for standing in the way of the whimsical sorceress, bent to obtain her due in whatever way there was available.

As for the golden-haired bandit, he was powerless to stop the shearing pain from biting into his every nerve. The entire world was now rushing colours of black and white - and the variant tones in between. He wondered briefly what he was doing. And then he closed his eyes, resigning to the hurt, wondering that if he could pass out, would it perhaps stop.

Then from within him, another kind of pain grappled with his consciousness. He opened his eyes suddenly and gasped.

"That wasn't funny, Necron," he managed to breath, holding the spot of his imaginary pain with both hands.

Yet he understood why the jolt had been necessary. As much pain as he was in now, it wouldn't be anymore painful than the pain he would be in if the sorceress got her way, and everybody had to live in compressed time as her slave, without knowing when it would end. He braced himself and fought valiantly against the piercing colours. A darkness unlike the one the sorceress had thrown greeted him, bursting into the voids of dark and light in a comforting way. Zidane found his feet, and made sure he stayed on them. In a while more the howling and whistling around his ears ceased, and he found himself face to face with Ultimecia once more.

The sorceress looked on, emotionless.

And he was in an utter mess, he had to admit.

Breathing hard, he collapsed to the ground, unable to make any further advances. The sorceress then turned so that her back was towards him. She blurred and appeared again - but Zidane had long decided that it was useless depending on his eye to track the movement of the magically inclined. Her figure was quickly receding - melting into space. That just would not do. For this meant that she was done with him - and she was now going to prey on the rest of his companions.

An eerie glow illuminated Zidane from inside out. The inner strength buried within surged to make itself manifest. From his initial involuntary trembling, the genome steadied himself and began to instead visibly vibrate.

He glanced up, and his eyes flashed gold.

Grabbing the Pumice from the ground beside him, where he had dropped it, the boy conjured up his entire might, his entire force, and his entire spirit into the summon.

If he didn't break out of this dimension now, he was going to regret it.

With a defiant cry, Zidane unleashed the beast that laid dormant within the golden orb. He exhausted all his Trance on that one move alone and quickly collapsed in a heap on the ground. At the last absorption of the withering bandit's energy the Pumice stopped glowing, and returned to it's usual lustre.

Thereafter began a precise second of lurid silence.

The stars in this mini universe Ultimecia had put Zidane in began to spin around with great force and vigor, quaking the area noiselessly. Soon they became nothing but trails of luminosities stretching themselves across the inky backdrop of the cosmos.

The sorceress had stopped walking towards where she was going to. But she did not turn to face the monkey-boy.

Zidane's lips curled upwards into a sneaky smirk, baring the slightest bit of his pearly white teeth. At the very same time, behind him, the massive form of Ark broke out from wherever it had been hiding prior to the summoning, displaying the obligatory summon sequence before sidling up against the summoner in absolute obedience, awaiting the will of whoever had managed to call upon it.

The darkness had receded, time having been conquered by the colossal summoning, throwing Zidane back into the mist-filled dimension he had been pulled out from.

But Zidane had not forgotten where the sorceress last stood.

Unbuckling the Ultima Weapon from each other, he held one in each hand, struggling to his feet. Wiping the sweat on his brow and the blood slowly trickling down from his mouth, he stayed focused on his target. There was something inside of him pushing him into action. He had to get rid of the sorceress - although he was very sorry to Squall about that, because otherwise the sorceress would get rid of them. Nevermind if he would die trying. Zidane just couldn't stand the thought of letting Necron loose from captivity without having first put up one heck of a fight. As if sensing Zidane's readiness, the air around Ark stiffened.

Zidane slid into an attacking stance, daggers by his side.

He bent his knees.

Pushed forward.

And with full speed charged against the thick white mists - the only thing he presumed was between him and his target.

Like the sea being separated, the closer Zidane got to the mist the more they let him see what was beyond them. As the hypothesized distance closed in, Zidane lifted one dagger to attack and the other to defend as and when. Finally he could perceive a person standing where the sorceress had been.

Ignoring every warning signal his body gave him, ignoring the fact that his body didn't really want to do this, ignoring how he - Zidane, had seemingly taken back stage to another entity that was within him, the Tantulus bandit could only watch, like an uninvolved audience, as the dagger drove itself into the person who stood there, only stopping when it's width could no longer advance further into it's target.

A tiny speck of blood found itself landing on the pale, stunned face of the younger genome, completely stricken with what was unfolding before him.

Completely stricken with the fact that he was not going to be able to reverse this.

Both Cloud and Squall were staring at their comrades with eyes falling out of their sockets and mouths big enough for behemoths to climb in comfortably. The air was remarkably still with silence.

"Ku... Kuja..." Zidane found his voice first, the shock within his irises growing increasingly intense. "... I..."

He could say no further. His voice was drowned out by the tears welling up in his eyes.

From a far distance, the sorceress stood, watching without compassion, only awaiting for the time she could take advantage of the situation.

"Stupid monkey..." Kuja was using his whole might to force those words out of his mouth, as he craned his neck to look at his brother behind him, still holding onto the sword that was buried into his back, "... you were just... waiting for the chance to do that... weren't you... ?" he smiled without malice. As if he thought this whole thing was a big, big joke.

A big, big joke he knew would happen from the start.

"I'm sorry..." Zidane grabbed the hilt of his Ultima Weapon tighter, lowering his hot head in shame. He shook his head from side to side, unable to believe what he had just done. "... I'm sorry..."

The sorceress had placed the illusion there to trick any one of the four who would fall for it.

And Zidane had.

Now his Ultima weapon was sticking out of Kuja's back scornfully.

The same perfect circle of symbols began to trap the foursome, writing itself outwards as it had when it trapped Zidane. "This ends now, my eternal slaves!" The sorceress had a hand raised. "This is your Holy Judgement!"

But before the crushing whiteness descended upon them, a dark vortex rippled out from the center of the two genomes and wiped the entire scene away, switching it off as effortlessly as one would to a television with a remote. Cloud and Squall glanced at each other questioningly, both not comprehending the situation fully. Their attention was soon stolen by the neon blue figure rising up from the shadows. They gaped.

"Stop, Necron!" Zidane's voice was full of fear and desperation as he exerted the last of his energy to shout. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"That's Necron..." Cloud found that he was only able to repeat mindlessly.

Squall nodded. "Sure seems so."

The Eternal Darkness noticed that he was being watched. Turning his multi-eyed visage to Cloud and Squall, his glance lingered on them for a long moment.

Those eyes were unmoving, and depthless.

"I must be on my way, brave souls," the being spoke without opening his mouth, "just like you must be on your way."

Before they could demand an explanation, Necron zipped away, back into the shadows.

This time, however, not into the shadows of Zidane.

Into the shadows of Kuja.

And the silver-haired genome remained still for a only a while more before coughing and tilting his head slightly. "Do you mind, Zidane," he asked in a smooth voice, almost as if he wasn't injured at all, "that thing is beginning to irritate me. Kindly pull it out."

"...." Zidane's mouth was wide open. He blinked in disbelief.

Kuja coughed again, this time, along with a rather considerable amount of blood. "Pull it out!" He commanded, brimming with irritation.

"But..." The bandit was confused, "... I..."

Ignoring the doubt in Zidane's voice, Kuja narrowed his eyes in frustration. "Pull it out..." He growled, forcing the golden-haired boy to squeeze his eyes shut in preparation of what was to come. "... NOW!"

Zidane obeyed. He slid the single Ultima Weapon messily out from his older brother's back, eyes closed tight during the whole event. He wanted to ignore seeing the weapon - HIS weapon, covered with the blood of the person he had tried to protect. He wanted to ignore the reek of fresh blood pouring out of the same person, spattering over his face, over his clothes.

He wanted to stop the tears from finding their way out of his closed eyes.

The befouled dagger slid across the floor to another end of the room, abandoned, and perhaps never to be retrieved. Effectively stunned at the turn of events, Cloud and Squall stood rooted to where they had been standing, unable to determine what would happen next. Zidane collapsed backwards to the ground heavily, with eyes still closed. Kuja was a flash of silver and purple as he, too, fell forward until the only things holding him up were his palms and knees. He coughed up an unhealthy amount of blood, staining the floor before him. A noticable amount lingered on his lips and chin, which he took care to wipe away with the back of his palm. He gave a little, derisive snort.

Then with sudden determination, Kuja scampered to his feet and held the wound on his abdomen. He turned to Squall and pointed. "Now, Squall!"

Momentarily taken aback, realization soon hit home and Squall recalled what Kuja had requested for him to do prior to the whole upheaval. Giving a dumb nod he briefly recalled gesturing Cloud aside before getting into position.

Streams of power rushed out from where the dark-haired SeeD stood, to violently jump into the wobbly ex-villain, struggling to keep his feet firm on the ground.

"What's going on?" Cloud was beyond confused. He turned to look at the only other seemingly unoccupied individual, but decided that he wouldn't be getting any answers from Zidane, still in a state of shock. At this precise moment in time Squall chose to open his eyes, breaking out of his concentration. The SeeD raised the Lionheart and swung it backwards, as if he was hooked onto something and was now trying to fish it out. He didn't look like he was very successful, for the sword lingered in that position longer than it would take to draw anything out from it's original spot.

Cloud then turned to see where Squall was drawing from. He wasn't really surprised to see that the bright, rainbow coloured stream of energy from Squall was plugged directly at Kuja.

He was, however, rather surprised to see that as Kuja continued to wobble about his feet, the wound Zidane had opened up on his body was beginning to heal with an insanely impossible speed.

The bright-haired mercenary reassessed the situation. *Looks like Squall's trying to draw something out from Kuja...* His eyes narrowed. *... don't tell me he's trying to draw...*

His thoughts were interrupted with a menial fire spell, thrown at him from the general direction of Kuja.

"Having your head in the clouds at a time like this?" Kuja smiled weakly. "How about you put your time into better use by throwing a Firaga at me?" As if anticipating Cloud's fear, Kuja placated it with a wink.

"Don't worry, I'm a lot more fire resistant than you give me credit for."

Cloud remained doubtful only for a second more. Then he picked the materia and channeled his spirit into it, instantaneously conjuring a massive inferno and then sending it towards the person who had requested it.

The silver-haired genome had his smile fixed in place, although his eyes was now downcast. He ignored the bug-eyed Zidane who was still seated behind him, closing his eyes as a final respite to this short, tremulous time with his friends.

"Time truly does not wait..."

The spell hit dead center, knocking Kuja off his feet and into the arms of the even more confused Zidane. At the same time Squall made a final lunge and won, drawing out a large, pulsating blob of darkness which had been hiding from the now semi-conscious Kuja. The darkness entered into Squall, who only blinked and started checking his junctions. Cloud's hand was still outstretched in the position he had taken to cast the Firaga.

A calm, comfortable silence took over the company.

Until the scene started to shift, forwarding them through the worlds in it's different phases of life, shaking the foundations of the planet, but not affecting the four of them in any noticable way.

Slowly, surely, the world became visible through the now fading forms of the four travellers of time. Many words were striving to come out of the throats of the four, none eventually being voiced. Until Cloud bravely tried to say something before his comrades, his brother-in-arms, vanished without a trace, thrown back to another time without him having even wished them goodbye.

"I'm guessing the removal of Necron means time has been released," he shouted, hoping his friends would hear him through the noise.

"You guess right." Squall nodded. He didn't look very well, though. For it didn't take a genius to figure out that no one could hold the Eternal Darkness within themselves without at least suffering a bit.

"... Will you be all right?" Zidane's ghostly voice was addressed to the SeeD.

The boy held a thumbs up. "As long as I don't try to junction that weirdo."

Cloud saw that they were all nearly invisible by now. Himself included. "Bye guys," he sputtered in a sudden spur of emotion, "I hope I see you again."

The world was then quickly painted over with a coat of white, the disparaging noises of the winds of another dimension stopping completely, without much fanfare or announcement.

The last thing Cloud remembered before vanishing completely, were the smiling faces of Squall and Zidane.

No matter how impossible it seemed, perhaps it wasn't all that unbelievable to look forward to that one day, where somehow, they would see each other - again.

 

\-------------------------------  
monogatari datta  
31/12/2002


	31. Epilogue

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
epiro-gu da

 

There was the peaceful sound of trickling water from everywhere. The unmistakable scent of tranquilty permeated the wide, spacious area. So comfortable was the soft ground Cloud was lying on, it took every shred of his determination to finally peek out of the slumber he was slowly drifting into, staring instead at the glaring lights shining down on him, shifting directions along with the reflections of the nearby pool of water.

He put a hand over his forehead, shielding part of the shifting lights away. Blinking slowly, he glanced from side to side, wondering what he was doing and where in the world he was. Deciding that he wasn't going to get a clear view from where he was lying, he pushed himself up into a sitting position, ignoring how his muscles were reluctant to comply.

Like he had woken up from a bad dream of several centuries.

"This place..." he could take in the entire scene in a glance from where he was seated.

The calm tides lapped at the dark-soiled shores gently. Water continued to drip from the walls into the gathering pool in the middle of the room. Cloud let his glance linger on the lagoon, a wave of depression setting in for a short while. It was soon dispelled, as he struggled onto his feet. Near where he had been lying was the upright form of the Ultima Weapon. The mercenary plucked it out of the ground effortlessly, dislodging at the same time a considerable amount of soil - and two orbs of suspicious origins.

Cloud stared at the two orbs for a long, long time.

He put a hand to his head and considered how safe it would be to bash his head against the wall at the moment.

First, he woke up to find himself lying in the dead center of the City of Ancients - nevermind he wasn't supposed to be able to have access to this part of the City. And then to top it all off, the Ultima Weapon unearths two of the most powerful materia in the Planet, which Cloud now stared at incredulously.

Chucking the huge sword back into the ground, the blond bent down on one knee to examine the orbs closer.

With hesitation he reached out and touched the materia with the tips of his fingers. When nothing happened, he sighed - with both relief and frustration. He grabbed the white and black materia from the muddy ground and held them in his palm, feeling their comforting presence in this no-man's land.

Slowly he closed his hand on the orbs, and stared meaningfully at the ground he stood upon.

"Thanks, Aerith..." he closed his eyes, "... and, Sephiroth."

Turning to look upwards where the immeasurable ceiling stretched on for infinity, one could almost hear his smile.

With his palms outstretched, so that the light could pass through the two materia nestled firmly between his fingers, he grinned.

"Where in the world would I be without you guys."

 

\-------------------------------

 

Squall noticed that he had returned to the same vast, barren wastelands he had been walking around in before he stepped rather unceremoniously into that time pocket - winding up in the Sleeping Forest. He smiled at the memory, still fresh in his mind. Looking back beyond his shoulders, he briefly wondered about the others, and whether anything he did now would be affecting them no matter which phase of time they had been thrown back into.

Standing up, he began to walk. It was not like there was anything else he could do in this large desert anyway.

Thunder and lightning continued to flash, bang, and make random noises over his head, but he was no longer afraid.

His will empowered, his determination gritted, he trudged on in silence.

There were people he was looking forward to see. There were places he was looking forward to go. He had a life he wanted to continue living in. He had a hope he would continue living for.

But his time with the others had taught him that lingering on in the past was tantamount to suicide - especially in a time compressed dimension. He had to keep moving forward. It would keep him alive. Alive enough to see how things would eventually turn out. Alive enough to see Rinoa again.

A pain jolted him to reality. He fell to his knees and bent double, willing the hurt to slowly ebb away.

It looked like having the Eternal Darkness in store was going to be a lot harder than he had thought it would be.

But still he knew he did the right thing when he drew Necron away from Kuja. He knew he could at least keep the monster captured until his death - and at least the world would still experience peace of some sort. He was the only one at that moment of time who could do it. And he did.

He only hoped that time had been released correctly, and that he wasn't just trapped in yet another dimension with no way out.

The pain lingered, as if mocking him for being silly. Squall merely smiled and lowered himself into a sitting position, placing the Lionheart where he could conveniently reach out for should there be any sudden change in the scenario. He sighed.

Looking up at the mesmerizing skies, phasing in and out with gooey colours, Squall soon found his back against the floor, as he busied making himself comfortable.

The last thoughts on his mind before he drifted off into a small sleep, was that of the girl in light blue, with her perky words and character - always bringing life out of Squall's dark moods.

Perhaps she would bring him out of this dark situation as well?

Squall smiled, and laid completely still, just wanting to do nothing but rest and fight it out with Necron in his dreams.

He didn't notice the soft, steady footsteps approaching from beside him.

Until a shadow loomed over him, and he could feel a warm hand brushing his cheek hesitantly.

He remained confused until the owner of the warm hand threw herself all over him and bright lights burst forth from the skies, scaring him with it's intensity. Instead of the stink of barren wastelands he could now smell beautiful flowers, fluttering about like a strong wind had been tossing them around.

Slowly he opened an eye to see what was happening.

And he was greeted by the supremely relieved face of the girl he hadn't seen... in centuries.

The first thing he did was to smile. He had learnt many things from Zidane he was ready to apply.

"Good morning," he gasped, wondering how long it had been since he last spoke a word, "so what's on our agenda today, rebel princess?"

Rinoa fought back tears unsuccessfully, and threw herself at the SeeD she had worried herself silly waiting for.

The petals continued to float around the couple protectively.

And a single white feather cascaded from the cloudy skies to the lush, green floor.

 

\-------------------------------

 

The Iifa tree roots had calmed and stopped moving by the time Zidane found himself unceremoniously dumped onto the messy patch of trunks along with the unconscious Kuja, whom he had to support for fear of him getting knocked in the head unknowingly. It had been a painful fall, but Zidane snapped into reality as soon as his butt hit the roots. He supported Kuja with one hand and desperately pulled out an unused piece of cloth from his inventory to press it onto Kuja's dripping wound.

"Hang in there..." he found himself croaking, "... please..."

The older genome made no reply.

Blood continued to stain the previously clean cloth. Zidane grew increasingly flustered. For all the knowledge he had he did not know how to help himself at all in a situation like this. He shook his head furiously. He had to think - hard. He had been in situations like this before, when someone from the Tantulus would receive a near-fatal wound. He knew he had done this before. He just had to remember how. In his desperation, remembrances were slipping out of his brains faster than a black hole could suck matter. He wanted to cry. He didn't know what he could do.

A hand reached out to touch his quivering palm, which had been pretty unsuccessful in trying to get the wound on Kuja to stop bleeding. Zidane's head snapped up and blinked at the newcomer. When he saw who it was, he was completely washed over with a strange kind of relief.

"Mikoto!" He smiled thankfully. The young genome didn't appear to notice him, choosing instead to focus on the problem at hand.

"The wound isn't as serious as it looks," she spoke softly, "as long as we can stop the bleeding, he should be all right."

"Really??" Zidane choked on his own voice to proclaim that expression of pure joy. "Really, Mikoto??"

The young girl nodded. She brought both hands up to generate a Cura which she directed at the messy wound on Kuja.

It helped the wound close up a little more. She quickly concentrated on another spell.

Zidane watched in silence, wishing very hard he could do something to help, besides supporting Kuja's weight for now. "Don't go..." he found himself whispering sadly, "... don't just die on me like this, okay?"

"In any case," Mikoto's ghostly articulation caught him in mid-murmur.   
"Welcome back home."

The golden-haired bandit took a moment to register that, but he grinned and wiped away the tear that was threatening to fall from his eye. As much as things looked hopeless, he could not help but feel uplifted and encouraged.

"Yeah," he nodded, "We're home."

 

\-------------------------------

 

From an outcrop of the messy roots, two hooded figures observed as the three genomes slowly clambered away from the tree. When the genomes finally vanished from their line of sight, the one who had been standing turned to look at the one who was crouched slightly in a squat, still letting his glance trail the direction he thought the three angels of death had gone to.

"Are we done here yet, Cloud?" The question sounded impatient, though it was droned out in a long, draggy manner.

Cloud turned to look at the questioner. "Why, having sore feet already, Vincent?" He grinned, flashing his white teeth where the darker-haired man could see it.

"Indeed..." Vincent scoffed, shifting his weight and retreating further into the tree trunk. "Now if you'll excuse me while I slink back into the shadows."

The man named Cloud made a gesture as an indicatus of 'Go right ahead!'. As promised, Vincent dissolved into the darkness effortlessly. Cloud then turned back to staring at the deserted landscape, allowing the winds to caress his being. The same wind soon took the hood off his shielded face and let loose the rebellious, spikey blond hair which had been hiding beneath it. Cloud tossed his head into the air with a wide smile, enjoying the sensation. He returned his head to the land soon enough. "Looks like the genomes are due for a call from Ipsen!" He sniggered.

"You sure are taking advantage of this whole situation aren't you?" The ghostly voice of Vincent echoed in from the air. To Cloud, however, it appeared to be an everyday event. He didn't even flinch or miss a heartbeat.

"I would rather this, than sit in a musty old coffin and sleep the rest of my centuries away, Vincent."

Another scoff. "As if you ever did."

Cloud grinned. "You're getting sharp, Vincent."

"Time can do a lot of things to you if you're not careful." A pause. "You never used to grin as much as you do now." He pointed out.

The mercenary did not reply, merely looking beyond the mountains which surrounded the ancient tree. "You can always look at it both ways!" He finally remarked.

"When time is on our side, it can either be your blessing, or their curse."

"Vice versa works as well."

"Damnit Vincent, stop being so sharp-mouthed."

"I am, am I not? So sue me."

 

\-------------------------------

 

The same, warm and comfortable wind swept through the lands of Gaia. It was the same one which had swept through it 500 years ago. The same one which had swept through it 5000 years ago.

The same one which would sweep through the land again, 500, even 5000 years later.

 

\-------------------------------  
epiro-gu datta  
31/12/2002


	32. Side-Story 1

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
hiwa(01) da

 

"Cloud."

It was a simple statement of fact. There was no question or incredulity in his tone. Just innocent surprise - perhaps at the notion of seeing a friend; a comrade, after such a long time.

The person 'Cloud' was a stoic statue of stillness.

There was no real indication as to his true identity - for his long, sweeping, brown, aged and absolutely tattered cloak left any onlooker's eyes in much want. On top of that his face was conveniently shielded by a hood of similar material, and a lightly shaded thin veil beneath the hood acted as an out-of-place visor to his eyes.

A while later the hooded entity quirked his lips into a semi-smile and lifted, from the depths of his heavy-looking cloak, a single, gloved hand. Sunlight reflected off the massive blade he had somehow managed to keep hidden under that otherly dimension cloak, if only for a while. That cloak appeared to be good at hiding unsightly bulges.

"Hello, Vincent," the soft voice drawled his syllabuses out with indolence. It was then that Vincent noticed the inner veil Cloud adorned actually stretched downwards just prior to his knees. Not that it was something very important, but after having lived for so long, anything - Vincent decided - no matter how mundane, was worth an observation.

Mako red eyes stared at Mako blue eyes, a silent conversation transpiring in the brief time they took to watch each other.

"Where have you been?" Vincent broke the silence by asking the question he knew he had to ask. "Haven't seen you since..." he paused to recall the amount of years they had separated, "... since forever..." he gave up, not wanting to remember that far back into history.

Cloud shrugged. "Here and there, there and here." He laid a palm on his head and slid the hood easily off, letting loose the disarray of wild, spikey blond hair which had refused to stay down despite having a heavy hood weigh on it, and despite Cloud wearing his hair longer now. The boyish soldier smiled and placed his arms akimbo. "What's up with you lately?" He asked.

Seeing that the blond mercenary didn't seem ready to talk about his disappearance just yet, Vincent yielded by simply replying, "Research." From the mini bag he had slung over his left shoulder he withdrew a notebook of sorts and held it so it was within Cloud's reach. "Interested?" He asked.

Wordlessly Cloud accepted the book and flipped through it quickly, like he was just trying to gauge how many words it accounted for. He smiled. "Mako, Jenova cells, bodily reactions - I thought you've long grown out of that phase of denial, Vincent." He eyed the ex-Turk coolly.

"Denial, I am in not," Vincent retorted, while collecting the book back from Cloud, "I merely wish to clarify some things, before I decide what I shall do with myself."

"So what've you got so far?" The blond mercenary sounded almost enthusiastic. He kept his expressions as pokered as before.

Misunderstanding that query to be about the technicalities of his findings, Vincent rambled on, "The usuals - as you most probably have already heard about. Myths that SOLDIERs pass from one generation to the next are not exactly off the mark of truth. While minor exposures to Mako and Jenova cells can make a SOLDIER out of anybody, heavy or prolonged exposure-"

"-apparently stopped or slowed growth, setting the physical body into semi-hibernation but releasing the mind to continue as per normal, provided the subject survives the initial bout of Mako poisoning. And blah." Cloud threw his hands into the air. "For goodness sake, Vincent!!"

The red-clad man blinked, still in a bit of shock at having been interrupted. "... ?" He stared at his friend questioningly. "I'm sorry, did I misunderstand the meaning of your question?"

Cloud kept silent after this, preferring to stare outwards at an unknown point in the distance. Sneaking a cursory glance in the direction Cloud had his eyes trained on, Vincent was surprised that the sun was setting already. It seemed like almost just now he had finished writing up the last of his notes from the tests he was going through at the Gongaga reactors. That was in the afternoon.

"Even the day has to come to an end." Cloud's voice was as silent as usual. "It would be terrible if the day kept on going on, like us, wouldn't it?" The boyish mercenary smiled wistfully, a glimmer of minute sadness glossing over his bright eyes.

His companion sighed. "It is great, of course, that the day comes to an end somehow, otherwise all would have long been toasted to a delicious crisp," his morbid sense of humour succeeded in getting Cloud to snicker. "However, the day only ends because time flows on for it - just like time flows on for us. I find it amusing that you should compare the length of our prolonged life to the length of a single day. There really is nothing to compare, my friend."

The blond mercenary looked miffed. "Still as poetically incomprehensible as usual, I see."

Vincent felt obliged to bow mockingly. 

"So how IS it going?" Cloud returned to being random. Vincent blinked.

"What do you mean?" The red-eyed ex-Turk settled for a generic response. He was visibly mystified to see that his ex-leader had settled for bouncing on his feet. Who was this restless person?! He couldn't really be the Cloud Strife Vincent had known and followed during the whole Meteor episode could he?! "And why are you bouncing on your feet?" He couldn't resist from asking.

The spike-head stopped bouncing and stood up straight, "I meant what the words meant, and I'm bouncing because I have nothing better to do." He grinned widely for a split second.

Thrown off by that grin, Vincent remained remarkably at a loss for words. Finally he cleared his throat and decided to just speak what was on his mind. "I don't know about myself, Cloud," he said, "perhaps sleep would be a much better way to pass my time, especially after I have found out so much about what the experiments of Hojo are doing to me." Almost like it was an afterthought, he glanced at the mercenary, who had now began SWAYING on his feet, and asked, "Um... what about yourself?"

The area had been darkening as they spoke, and now what was visible throughout the lands were the glistening stars dotted along the inky skylines, as well as the eerie glow of their Mako-tainted eyes. There was a hint of laughter in Cloud's eyes, although Vincent didn't pick up anything akin to that sound. He waited.

"I've been around," Cloud said, tone ambiguous. From the corner of his eye he glanced at his friend curiously, "but nowhere you haven't been to before."

"The Planet is only this big, Cloud," Vincent shook his head.

"Hmm..." the younger person nodded non-committedly, "... but what about in another 500, even 5000 years time... ?"

Unable to determine what was in the younger Cloud's mind, Vincent merely settled for listening.

"Maybe," Cloud was obviously exhilarated about something, "we can even travel to the moon by then!" He pointed at the reddish glow in the dark skies, staring down at them with intensity.

"I wouldn't put anything beyond possibility for now, but..." The raven-haired man scratched his head with his good hand, "... travel to the moon?"

"Yep," Cloud nodded, "the moon."

An awkward silence settled over the duo.

"Technology," Vincent began, "rolled back centuries after Meteor crushed Midgar almost 500 years ago... and even then we only had one rocket which could make it to outer space. No one has ever thought of furthering outer space exploration since the entire Meteor saga. If indeed we are to travel to the moon, it won't be something that can be done in 5 or 10 years, I daresay."

This caused Cloud to pout. Yes. POUT. "I know you're dreamier than that, Vincent," the mercenary sneered at him childishly, "years of training in that coffin in Nibelheim can do wonders to your soul."

The red-eyed person scoffed. "I haven't gone back there since you woke me up eons ago, in case you haven't noticed."

"Seriously now," Cloud returned to being expressionless, deep blue eyes burrowing into his friend's inner soul, "will you be doing anything other than wander around for the rest of your days, even after you've found out more about what Hojo's experiments have done?"

"................" was Vincent's response.

"..." Cloud smiled, "How about you and me go on a long, long journey together?"

The vampire-like man raised an eyebrow at the notion. "A journey?" Was the first words that came to his mind. "To where?"

"Not to the ends of the world, that's for sure," the boy giggled - well, almost, "we've already done that."

"Where to, then?" Vincent's interest was piqued. He watched the boy rear his head in his direction and nodded slightly.

"To the ends of time. And back. Maybe."

"..." Vincent wasn't sure he knew what he was going to say, "and if time never ends?"

Cloud shrugged. "Maybe we'd have reached the moon by then!" He laughed excitedly, jerking a thumb at the red orb hanging serenely against the backdrop of dark skies.

As suddenly as he had appeared, Cloud turned on his heels and left a trail of dust in his wake as his overly long cloak fluttered about the parched ground. "Don't have to tell me what you think now, Vincent.

"I'll be back at where it all started in a week's time."

The last folds of the sweeping cape vanished into the looming darkness as soon as he finished his piece, leaving Vincent numbed with surprise at this dreamlike encounter.

For the first time in his life, he was dying to know where Cloud had been and what he had done in the period of his disappearance.

 

\-------------------------------

 

On the sixth day after his occasional meeting with Cloud, Vincent found himself back at the purplish cave behind the waterfall near Nibel. It wasn't intentional, or so Vincent swore in his heart. When he stepped near the region however, the first thing he noticed was that something had burnt there recently. An examination of the grass nearby told him nothing. He looked up near the waterfall entrance and was not very surprised to see that that part of the upper entranceway had been chipped and now a few rocks were hanging precariously, ready to snag the next person who came. Vincent shot away most of the dangerous looking ones and wondered, briefly, which big object had been spending it's time dancing around the entrance.

Trusting his instincts, which were currently strangely quiet despite the odd scene before him, Vincent stepped quickly into the curtain of water and entered his destination proper.

As usual, the cave was glistening with sadness literally rolling off the slim-caked walls. 500 years hadn't done anything much to alter it's interior just yet. Vincent approached the cavern whenever he felt stuck over something, and it was certainly that time of the century again where a major decision was due to be made. Sighing softly he approached the pedestral where Lucrecia used to seat herself in, sobbing miserably over the loss of her life, her son, and her humanity. Perhaps he would be able to decide what to do here, as had she.

Softly sitting on the dais, Vincent blinked in surprise when he felt a soft rustling of cloth on the usually hardened ground.

With his flesh hand he gathered a bit of the streaked cloth together. Carefully he let his eyes dart around the nuances of the chamber, probing all corners for the possibility of perhaps another entity besides himself. He let his guard slide after a while. There really was no point in trying to find something that wasn't there.

He stood and swept the cloth off the platform in a single motion. Besides the fact that it was cloth, the darkness of the room didn't allow for anymore details of the thing to be shown. Glowing red eyes regarded it for a moment. As unreadable as the night. As unapproachable as the flame.

Not two seconds later, Vincent trod out of the cavern. He had a long distance to cover in a short time.

 

\-------------------------------

 

When he arrived at his destination, it was some time in the afternoon of the seventh day. The final day, Vincent noted with amusement. These days had been but a twinkling of an eye. He briefly scanned the ruined city of Midgar, not a patch of emotion apparent in his eyes. Before he found his target, however, he saw someone else. Automatically his body began to gravitate to the familiar looking figure. He didn't even realize what he was doing until he came close enough to the red beast to draw the latter's attention.

Nanaki's jaw dropped to the floor. He recovered quickly enough to exclaim, "Vincent!"

"Hello," the man nodded, "it's been a while."

The beast blinked and swayed his head gently. "You're... you're..."

"Alive?" Vincent smiled. "Yes I am, indeed. Very much."

"But, how?" Nanaki was still bug-eyed with shock.

Wordlessly the red-eyed ex-Turk placed his notebook on the ground near where Nanaki could see and flip through at will. Slowly at first, then gradually faster, the Cosmo Canyon guardian began to see the light dawn. A few more minutes passed with Nanaki pawing the book and Vincent on one knee, carefully assessing the beast's reaction. When Nanaki finally reached the last entry, he set a paw down on the page and glanced upwards at his friend, torn between feeling sympathetic and horror for the long-haired man.

Vincent took the book back and slid it easily into his mantle. "There is no need to be so surprised, my friend. It was not by our dealing that this happened. I won't take offence, and neither would Cloud, I think. But you should try to stop doing that. There may be other people like us who don't like to be looked at with slack jaws."

Not really paying attention to the reprimand, Nanaki's headdress swayed even more in the incoming breeze. "... Cloud?" He wondered aloud.

The ex-Turk adjusted the holster of his gun and nodded, before turning around to walk in the other direction. He could sense words of protest forming on the red beast's mouth so he decided to speak up first. "You shouldn't be surprised even if you DO see Cloud, Nanaki."

That effectively brought conversation to a standstill. Vincent no longer felt Nanaki's objections. He closed his eyes and continued walking, eventually dissolving into the dust storm that was beginning to form. Not that he minded, he had been through quite a bit of these storms before but had always managed to escape *somewhat* unscathed.

What was really in pain was perhaps not his physical self, but his empty, hollow inner existence.

Empty but bleeding. On and on and on for years. Decades. Centuries. Milleniums to come? It was when his thoughts became ramblings that Vincent sometimes wondered if he was musing or just going insane. Unwittingly he found his feet coming to a halt, instincts telling him to stop for some reason. He looked up and squinted slightly to try to catch what was lying behind the horde of flying sand.

There was really no need to, for Cloud's bright, blond hair was hardly mistakable even from miles apart. The boy smiled and gave Vincent a mock salute, oozing with the kind of confidence he had learned - GOTTEN from Zack. Vincent tilted his head to a side.

"You went to Lucrecia's waterfall didn't you?" The ex-Turk wasted no time in getting to the point.

"I did," Cloud admitted, unfazed.

Silence.

"Um," the younger man took to scratching the back of his head in slight embarassment, "did I touch something I shouldn't have? I mean, I tried to be careful, but you know me... Either my head bangs against the wall or my sword tows along the floor - my sword and I, not exactly suitable for caverns and waterfalls, you know? So anyway, there was that ugly looking monster blocking my way out, and stuff. And you know what happened next. Yeah. Anyway, I made sure I burned the remains to nothing so there won't be a smell but I'm really sorry if you stepped on a monster gut or something because... ...... ... what's so funny?" Cloud found Vincent trying to stifle giggles when he looked up from ranting.

This continued for a while until Vincent managed to calm down. Not before receiving a bonk on the head from the Buster sword, of course.

"Well anyway," Cloud's brows were knitted, "I came to say goodbye."

"Where are you going exactly?" Vincent asked.

The boy shrugged. "Just so long as I keep moving." He quietly appended.

"....."

There was a shuffling sound as Vincent brought what he had in his left hand upwards to plain view. Cloud eyed the thing without any tangible reactions, but incredulity could be read from his eyes. He returned to staring at Vincent questioningly.

"You left this at Lucrecia's cave," was the blunt statement of fact.

Cloud blinked. "Yes, I did." He averted his glance, looking uneasy, "Some meteorologists said there would be a dust storm in the Midgar region for a couple of days from now or something. I figured with your reputation you would at least come to Midgar to give me an answer, or say bye, you know?" He grinned. "I got this cape," he shrugged so his brown cloak would stand out a bit, "from a merchant in Fort Condor just a while ago. Despite what the merchant says, this thing is seriously good stuff. And I'm glad I got it cheap. So anyway he gave me another one - the other one he had, because he was going to travel somewhere else and the stuff burdened him. I usually keep the extra one stashed somewhere nearby, but when I thought of you coming to Midgar in a sand storm because you needed to honour a silly appointment you made with a silly boy, I knew it would be at least courteous for me to leave you something that would help you in coming here... and stuff." He stopped, hand reaching out to scratch the back of his head again. "... Kind of needless actually huh? Come to think of it." He chuckled. "You're a lot tougher than this sand storm would ever be."

"Hmm..." Vincent had his eyes on the same brown and weathered cloak Cloud had left in Lucrecia's cave for him. He tossed it in the air and lapped it over his shoulders, waiting until the fabric had fully settled before continuing, "... brown looks good on me too, doesn't it?"

The blond mercenary stared.

"You're right," Vincent chortled, "this sand storm probably couldn't have done anything to me. No need for this 'wonderful' piece of cloth in that case, really. But what about that trip to the moon?"

It took more than a while for Cloud to register that last sentence his friend had spoken, before he reacted. Still, an utterly befuddled "Whaaat???" was all he could say, "You're coming along??"

"And why does that surprise you?" Vincent wanted to laugh.

Taken aback, Cloud could only sputter, "No I'm not surprised- well I mean not what it meant, as in- you know I wasn't didn't really mean it that way and..." He put a hand over his mouth, breathed really hard, and calmed down. "What I meant to say is, 'Really?'"

Vincent pondered it.

"Naah," he finally said, noticing with amusement the blond mercenary literally droop, "I won't do the travelling per se. Not a very morning person, I am. I'll just prowl around in the shadows and provide some backing here and there but otherwise, yeah," he smiled, "you do the walking, I do the lurking. Deal?" He held out his right hand in the motion of a handshake.

The ex-leader of AVALANCHE stared stunned at the outstretched hand. He then peered curiously at Vincent's eyes. Not a split second later Cloud's own hand found that of Vincent's, and they clasped their hands together in a firm handshake.

"Deal."

 

\-------------------------------  
hiwa(01) datta  
13/1/2003


	33. Side-Story 2

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
hiwa(02) da

 

The Garden was in a buzz. And it was no wonder.

"How did they come without anybody noticing?"

"Oh wow... I can't believe this..."

"Do you suppose something major's going on... ?"

"Like another war?"

Gasps.

"Don't be stupid!"

"Hey! Just trying to suggest something!"

The rest of the discussion dissolved into the murmur of voices slowly building into background noise. All the students were gathered at their respective classrooms and rumours about the strangers were rift. The noise simmered to a whisper as soon as a white screen slid mechanically down from the front of the rooms, indicating that an image was about to be projected onto it soon.

The projector flickered blue onto white.

And then Squall appeared.

He looked squirmish and rather reluctant, eyes darting from corner to corner without really focusing. Somebody called out to him from the side and he responded by mouthing something inaudible, before turning to look into the camera which was broadcasting his every movement to the Garden.

"Um..." he began, "... hello."

A few chuckles could be heard from the classrooms. But otherwise, all was silent. All of them understood that their leader wasn't exactly a man of fanciful words.

"There appears to be some commotion on the lower levels of the Garden," the boy continued almost seamlessly, scratching his head, "so we figured this would be a good time to test the public communications system we recently installed." His hand reached beyond the camera lens to pull out an apparatus with a red button and a speaker of sorts affixed atop it. "Okay, you see this thing on your table?" He paused, "I'll ask the questions and if you think you can answer just press the red button. If the button flashes that means you got through to the office, so just talk through the speaker and we'll hear you. Clear enough?" He raised his eyebrows. After a few moments of pause there appeared to be resounding silence on the part of the listeners. Therefore, Squall proceeded.

Fingering a headset someone passed to him from the side, he mumbled, "Okay... I heard from Xu something's going on - what seems to be the problem?"

At least a hundred and one students punched the button, eager to make their thoughts heard. It was a boy with cropped hair seated in the third row of one of the middle classrooms who saw the go-ahead.

"There are two strangers in the compounds, sir," the boy added no flourish to his words.

"Oh?" Squall remained unperturbed. He managed to somehow don the headset and was now busy adjusting the sides. "So?"

"Sir, we're surrounded by miles and miles of water in all directions. There's no way they could have gotten in without a single one of the patrol guards noticing, or one of the security cameras catching it."

By then, Squall was done with adjusting the headset and turned his blithely uncaring eyes to stare at his audience. "There's always a flaw in everything." He remarked morosely. Noticing something flash in front of him he reached out to touch it. The channels were suddenly transferred to another student seated in another classroom. "Yes, and what do you have to say?"

"Sir, in all retrospect, I think if the intruders were in the least bit friendly, that they would have come in from the front door and announced their arrival."

The moody SeeD nodded quietly. He then turned his head to a side to discuss something with the person who was there. "How long have they been around?" Almost immediately he returned his attention to the students of the Garden. At that there was a low murmur. Everybody turned to look at everybody else. Although Squall couldn't see every single student personally from where he was situated, the long silence suggested that something was wrong. "Well?" Squall prompted, eager to get this mass dialogue session over and done with quickly so he could do his own private investigation.

A female student hit the button and got the channel. "We're not sure, sir." She paused, breathing a little, "We saw them in the Quad last."

"How soon ago?" Their leader was already checking his equipment, much to the alarm of some of the students. They had expected some form of action, just not so soon, and not before the picture was even clear yet.

"Just before we informed you, and the session was called." The girl was as surprised as some of her other classmates. "Um, sir... Is there a need to..."

The loud click of metal, which signified the readiness of Squall's gunblade, stopped her in her query.

"Decisiveness can prevent disasters."

 

\-------------------------------

 

"Xu, take over the channel," Squall commanded while walking towards the lift that would take him to the ground floor, "nobody gets out of the classroom until I give you the go-ahead - keep asking them about the strangers and pump the information to me; I'll be taking the headset." He tapped at said headset a few times. Xu had moved to take her position and flashed Squall an 'OK' sign. "Zell, see anything out of the ordinary in the Quad?"

The blond fighter shook his head, tapping at the control panel in front of him, which was wired to all the cameras in the school, observing it closely. "Nothing extremely off has happened for months now, Squall," he almost complained. "I know, I've been sitting here practically 24/7 since our celebration party, remember?"

Squall rolled his eyes at the thought of that night. "You absolutely sure nobody came into the Garden from any available entrance or exit at all?"

"Positive." Zell mumbled, bringing up one of screens. "Hmm..." his tone was disconcerted. "... hmmmm... ? What's this?" He stood up, pushing the chair he had been sitting on noisily behind. Squall and Nida both scrambled over. The enlarged screen was slightly pixilated, but it afforded a clear enough view of what was going on. "This guy wasn't there a second ago!" Zell practically hollered.

They were staring at the long, almost eerie corridor of the training center. A figure stood there, unmoving, with his back against the camera. Besides his long, flowing, battered and weathered cape, there was really nothing quite atypical of the person. For almost an entire minute they stared at his back. There being no sound transmission from the close circuit camera did wonders to shake them up as well. When the person shifted his weight to slightly turn around, therefore, Zell instinctively took a step backwards and knocked the chair into the far end of the room. Nida's eyes merely opened wider than they had originally been.

The mysterious figure had half his face hooded by the same cape which gathered around him obediently, despite their ruggard outlook. Long strands of pale coloured hair spilled out from the hood and framed the lower half of the person's face. There was a shuffle and the veil revealed eyes of the brightest intensity - but only for a while. The figure in question smiled. Almost a smirk, actually. In the exact split second he did a dark shadow obscured the camera from taping any further events. Yet the dark shadow didn't last longer than a moment. When the gloom vanished as speedily as it came, the figure who had been previously there was no longer there.

No one had seen the look of raw recognition flash across the SeeD leader's face.

But everybody heard him as he made his grand exit, tripping over abandoned chairs, slicing up a poor wire which stood in his way, and generally creating a ruckus before he stepped into the lift and without a second word or a glance back at any of his companions made his way to the ground floor.

"Hey, wait, Squall-- !!" Zell held a hand outstretched, knowing it was really useless to stop his friend once he had his mind set on something. Really amazing, these quiet people. They don't talk or do a lot of things, but when they do talk and do things, they'd be sure to scare the hair off your back. He sighed.

"Will he be all right?" Nida's facial expression was a cross between worry and bemusement.

"Will who be all right?" The lift door slid open once more, revealing Rinoa and Quistis. Rinoa peered around the control room and pouted slightly. "Where's Squall?" She asked. "We were supposed to go to Balamb today to get some supplies."

Zell had gone back to tinkering with the control panel of the close circuit cameras, particularly focusing his attention on the training center area. "Didn't you see him?" He muttered under his breath.

"See who?" Rinoa continued to be miffed. "Squall?" She tried to guess.

"Bingo," Zell didn't even turn his head around, "he was scrambling out of the office just a minute before you came. Thought you might have met him at the elevator or something."

"Well, I didn't!" Rinoa stuck her tongue out at the back of Zell. "Where was he going? How could he forget that we're going to Balamb today?" She stamped one of her foot on the ground, putting her arms on her waist.

"I don't think he meant to, Rinoa," Nida calmly tried to diffuse the situation, "there were some intruders on the campus and he's gone to deal with them."

The girl's eyes grew big. "All alone?" She sounded incredulous.

Zell finally spun around and handed Quistis a printout of something. "Well it wasn't like he INVITED any of us to come along, dearest," his speech, however, was directed at Rinoa, "and you KNOW what he can be like if he even begins to suspect that we're slighting his opinions in the least." He paused, waiting for protests. Hearing none, he continued, "That's a printout of one of the intruders we caught on camera; Squall forgot to take one along when he dashed out. Maybe you'd like to deliver it to him instead. He should be at at the training center."

His piece said and done, the blond returned to the close circuit screens, murmuring to himself all the time. Rinoa glanced over Quistis' shoulders to find herself staring at the rather amazing image of a half-hooded figure glancing up at the camera with eyes of a sky blue inferno. Yes. The seedy camera even caught that. She shuddered at what she would see in those irises should she even stare into them in the flesh. Being a sorceress entitled her to some abilities she didn't know if she wanted. Nevertheless, after exchanging a quick glance with Quistis they made for the elevator, determined to find Squall, and this so-called intruder.

 

\-------------------------------

 

Squall had barraged his way through the training center to reach the balcony in record time. He wheezed, hair in a mess, looking like a total idiot, as he flayed the gunblade around to dispel some of the mist which had gathered due to the morning atmosphere. Whipping around in all directions, he slowly began to back against the railings.

The rustling of cloth caught his attention. He glanced upwards.

There stood the caped figure, on the balcony of the entrance, evidently glancing downwards at the teenager. There was no visible hostility in the way he stood. Therefore Squall didn't see fit to raise his weapon in defense.

The stranger smiled. With a flick of his wrist his hood slid quietly off his head, revealing the more-than-familiar head of the spikey headed mercenary. He leapt down from the balcony smoothly, "Didn't expect you to be the first to come running headlog into danger," he walked in slow, deliberate steps towards the SeeD, who was beginning to lower his guard, "Either you've changed completely, or my impression of you has just been way off all the time."

They stood, facing each other, each with a fist raised.

Their fists connected.

"Good to see you too, Cloud," Squall tried rather unsuccessfully to mask the look of pure delight quickly taking over his countenance. "Only been months, but it's like an eternity already."

Cloud smiled.

"A few thousand years, Squall."

Dead silence.

"Actually," a deep voice boomed from where Cloud had leapt down from, shocking Squall into swiveling around so he could pinpoint where the new entity was. He had seriously thought he was alone with Cloud, "it's just slightly less than half a year, since you last saw him, Cloud," the disembodied voice continued to speak.

Noting with slight amusement that Squall was beginning to raise the Lionheart as if to attack anytime, Cloud pat him lightly on the shoulder. "Relax, Squall. He's with us." His furtive eyes darted upwards. "Come out before poor Squall thinks he's just met a ghost, Vincent."

"He already looks the part," Vincent's voice was devoid of mirth. But nevertheless he complied and leapt off the balcony, coming in full view. "Pleased to meet you Squall." He greeted simply.

And Squall just gaped more.

Noticing this, Cloud gave Squall a punch upside his head, succeeding in getting his attention. "Don't just stand there and gape. Say something!" The mercenary complained.

"Ugh..." Squall's mind was scrambling to come up with something intelligent, "... hello Mr. Vincent? How do you do?" He stopped and appeared to be finally catching his brain cells back. "And how did you know how soon ago did Cloud and I meet?"

The dark-haired man merely turned his head from side to side slightly. "Remember Esthar?"

"What about Esthar?" Squall frowned.

"Didn't you find one of the shops you visited there handled by some people of rather questionable appearances?" The raven-haired man probed on.

Squall blinked. "Well the attendants at 'Cloud's Shop' did make me wonder for a while if they were albino, the way they hid behind those thick stacks of... heeey..." The light suddenly dawned and he whipped around to point at the smiling blond mercenary. "That 'Cloud's Shop' thingie..."

Cloud's smile grew wider.

"Basket case!" Squall thumped Cloud's head this time. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't think you would have understood even if I had told you then," Cloud nodded sagely, casting a glance in Vincent's general direction. Vincent could be seen nodding wordlessly. He returned his attention to the young leader of the Garden, smiling genuinely. "After all, if you didn't immediately recognize this setup of mine, then you probably haven't met 'me' at that time yet."

"The setup of..." Squall briefly scanned Cloud from top to toe, "... Ipsen," he finished, rather blandly. "So you really are Ipsen," he raised his eyebrows in mock surprise.

"Not really," Cloud tilted his head to a side. From the corner of his eye he saw Vincent staring at him questioningly, so he decided it was a good time to shift the focus of the subject. "Anyway, we came here to ask for some information." From the long folds of his mantle he withdrew an oddly shaped silver nugget, glowing with a strange form of energy. Holding it between his thumb and index finger he smiled knowingly. "Recognize this?"

Squall considered for a while. "The coins." He finally said flatly. Nobody noticed that Vincent had seemingly vanished into nowhere. Glancing up at Cloud he asked, "Where did you find this?"

The blond mercenary hid the metal back into his cape smartly. "On a small island further southwest. There were some really weird apparatus abandoned there, like a really deep underground research facility of sorts. When we descended into the chasm we found these metal shards, practically glued to the ground. It took a lot of prying just to get this piece off, and by then we attracted the attention of more than one Ruby Dragon." He scratched his head sheepishly. "We hightailed out before we got into serious trouble."

"What for?" The SeeD shook his head. "You could take them on. They're easy." He stated matter-of-factly.

"Sure I could," Cloud rolled his eyes, lifting a portion of his long cape off his left arm, revealing a visibly sore, still slightly smoldering lower arm from his elbow down to just slightly above his wrist, "with my left arm *that* near to being dismembered? I know you're a lot more pessimistic than this, Squall."

"..." Squall's eyes became wider than it already was. The blond quickly draped the cloth over his arm before Squall could ask anything.

"So anyway," he began again, "I need you to give me all the information you have on that island southwest of here. Doesn't matter if it's not detailed, I just want to know a bit more about it before going in for the kill again - that kind of thing, you know?"

"There's a library somewhere on this storey," Squall blurted, feeling stupid.

"Gotcha on that. See you there then, I think we've got company." Cloud signaled for Squall to look behind, pulling his veil and hood quickly over. While the SeeD briefly turned his head, Cloud had leapt onto the railings, ready to dive off anytime.

A flash of blue caught Squall's attention, and he groaned inwardly. He wasn't ready to sit through Rinoa's interrogation just yet, so he caught onto a stray end of Cloud's long, sweeping cloak before the lattar dropped off the railings. "Wait!" He barely managed to keep his voice controlled. "Meet me at the parking lot instead! It's-"

"Squall!" Rinoa's voice effectively cut short all conversation. Taking the chance while Squall was distracted and had his head turned to stare at the newcomer, Cloud snapped the loose end of his cloak away from Squall's fingers and took to flight by vaulting over the railing noiselessly. In the exact same manner he came into the Garden - unseen and unheard - he left.

"!!" The Garden leader spun around as soon as he felt something wrong. By the time he did, however, Cloud was already nowhere to be seen. He cursed under his breath, frowning at first. Then he remembered that Cloud wasn't gone, gone. He had just shifted to another part of the Garden. Quickly he scrambled out of the balcony area, past Rinoa and Quistis, and made a beeline for the exit of the training center.

"Hey!" Rinoa was panting like mad when Squall brushed by her, not even sparing a second glance at the girl. "Where are you... arrrggh..." She stopped and put her hands on her knees to catch her breath first. She would deal with Squall later.

"Sure looks like he's a rush," Quistis noted quietly, staring in the direction Squall last made off in.

Rinoa's reply was to lift a hand from her knee, with her head still bowed, to point. And then she put it back at her knee. Then she lifted it and pointed again, with more vehemence. Of course, it went straight back to her knee. This rally of lift-point-knee continued for a few more rounds until she finally caught enough breath to stand up straight.

"IDIOT!!" she shrieked.

The blonde next to her squirmed slightly. She began to pity what Squall would have to face once Rinoa found him.

 

\-------------------------------

 

"All the books on the abandoned Deep Sea Research Center you have on hand, in ONE minute. I'll collect them at the corridor!" Squall practically yelled into his headset after having adjusted it to link to the library, and the attendants there who had not been required to join in the mass dialogue session.

"One minute, sir?" The tone of incredulity was hard to miss.

"Forty-five seconds and counting..." Squall growled. Without waiting for a response he switched frequencies, "... Clear every single living thing out of the parking lot. I don't even want to see a fly when I get there in a minute!" Tapping on the headset one final time, he waited until the line got through. "Xu, Squall here! I'm going outstation for a while - I'll still be bringing the headset. Dismiss the students, do whatever you want, just DON'T follow me, okay? Over and out!" He had reached the library entrance by then and there was a flustered librarian tripping all over his feet as he ran awkwardly out with five or so books. "I'll take that!" He grimaced and collected the books. "I'll return them on time, don't worry," he already had his library card ready, tossing it at the assistant. There were things even the leader of the Garden couldn't get away with - including the hot dog queues in the cafeteria, and the library card.

But those were not exactly what Squall wanted to think about as his boots struck the ground heavily with rythmic thumps. He swerved abruptly and almost didn't manage to stop himself in time to avoid the onslaught of technicians and repairmen who were leisurely making their way out of the lot. "At least they listened, even if they're a little slow..." Squall found himself murmuring as he violently brushed shoulders with the astounded pack of people. He vanished into the dark void of the parking lot soon enough.

"Who was that?!" A random technician pointed.

The person nearest to him bonked him on the head. "Squall Leonhart, you idiot! Our Leader!"

 

\-------------------------------

 

The parking lot had been converted over the past few months into a spunky hangar bay for the Ragnarok - Laguna having presented it to them instead of retaining it in Esthar. He gave no reason, but it wasn't like Squall really cared. The usual gloom still clad the lot when Squall noisily barged in, and the absence of anything living accentuated that. The aisle leading up the Ragnarok was lowered in seeming anticipation, so the black-clad SeeD wasted no time in clambering on board.

Once there he made a quick run to the cockpit, dropping the books in a corner and starting the engines up to check if everything was in order. Although he had never flown the ship around expertly before, he was able to remember the steps to setting it in auto-pilot - and that was good enough for now. Examining the map, and feeling sure he had the coordinates right, he retreated, meaning to go back down to check if his guests had arrived - into the incoming form of Vincent.

He was knocked off his feet for a fleeting second, but regained his grip smoothly. If you considered grabbing hold of the pilot's seat a somewhat smooth action. By then Vincent had taken a few steps behind, noticing his error in stalking. He seamlessly melded into one with the shadowy corner where Squall had dropped the books, and Cloud stepped into the light from behind Vincent, almost as if it was all pre-planned.

"Cool ship!" The blond remarked, whapping one of the pilot seats with vigour. There was a noticably nervous edge to his voice, though. "We saw you running into this thing so we followed you. Ah, anyway, what's this all about?" His eyes were sparkling with uncertainty when he reared them at Squall.

The SeeD kept impeccably silent, sliding easily into the pilot's seat and jamming on a button messily labelled 'Closes the Aisle!' - in patented Selphie handwriting. The label slipped off, but Squall caught it before it fell and returned it to it's rightful position. He would never hear the end of it from Selphie if the label got lost. All the while, Cloud was watching on in bemusement.

The airship jerked to a start, lifting itself off the air. From the unyielding darkness ahead of the ship came a burst of white light - a connection from the Garden to the world out there. Squall literally punched the button which said 'GO!!', and a muffled roar could be heard as the Ragnarok glided powerfully across the hangar and into the welcoming light. The floor continued to throb until the flying vehicle steadied itself. Immediately Squall locked the controls into auto-pilot, turning around to face a mercenary trying to curl into himself.

"Cripes," Cloud managed to eke, allowing his weak knees to pull him to the ground. He said no further word.

"It's just an old problem," Vincent's incorporeal, and entirely mirthless voice enlightened Squall on the situation.

"..." Squall shifted his glance back and forth between the shadowy corner Vincent had taken to, and the curled up mercenary trying to keep his face straight on the ground, "... Yeah, I know," he pointed at Cloud, "he's a hopeless motion sickaphobe. A gone case, if you ask me."

Although he wanted to, Cloud could make no retort.

Returning to his seat, Squall continued, "We're headed for the Deep Sea Research Center. Those books in the corner has all the available information in the Garden about that eerie place. I haven't gone through them, so I don't know if the books themselves talk about the Center or just a small portion."

"You've been there before?" Cloud had stopped frothing with dizziness and paid close attention.

"Once," the boy confirmed, "it's not exactly a place I'd want to go to again."

"But you're going to it now."

Squall nodded. "Something about what you said bothered me a bit." He spun around, addressing his audience face to face. His eyes darted to the unseen left arm of Cloud. "Well, something about what happened to you, actually."

"Hm, the blue left arm of sodding injuries, I see," Cloud brought his left arm out into the light again. It didn't look half as bad as it did when Squall was first shown it.

"Remarkable healing rate," Squall's wasn't particularly surprised, "as usual." He shrugged. "Anyway, there has been certain major uneasiness on the world scene lately. Lots of new, and more powerful monsters. People are speculating about another Lunar Cry - although I seriously doubt if there are anymore monsters left on Gaia to come down at all," he threw his hands into the air, "no matter what - the monsters at the Center were not supposed to do damage that hideous."

Cloud was examining the sore spot on his arm thoughtfully.

"Even if you wanted to investigate," it was Vincent, once again, speaking out in ethereal whispers, "why were you in such a rush?"

"..............." Squall entered his usual silence, "... because information about the Center was scarce anyway," he calmly said, "and by all legalities and logic the Garden should be involved with issues pertaining to monsters. Dangerous monsters, however, should be taken care of by the... more qualified. And so..."

"Just cut it out and say you were bored, Squall," Cloud waved his hand in a disapproving manner.

Squall blinked slowly. He narrowed his eyes.

Silence stretched.

Slowly, Squall's hand reached towards the controller, his expressionless countenance betraying nothing.

Then his hand found it's destination.

And Squall jerked the controller of the Ragnarok, so that the ship swayed unsteadily for a single second before resuming on course.

But that second, was one second too much for the spikey-headed mercenary who lurched dramatically and made a gurgling noise - like someone was strangling him. Barely managing to remain on his two feet, he glared vehemently at Squall, who looked back haplessly. Not being able to say much, Cloud could only shoot the SeeD a look which translated to 'I'll get you for this later!', before bolting off the cockpit into the lower levels, where he could untie the knots in his stomach in privacy.

Nobody followed him.

The older person in the room turned his glowing red eyes on the smug teenager. "That was mean," he concluded, tone as neutral as ever.

Squall shook his head.

"Not at all sir. That was fun."

 

\-------------------------------

 

"Well, Xu?" Zell was tapping his foot on the ground, feeling impatient. The older SeeD hushed him with a hand signal and went back to adjusting the channels.

Eventually she leaned back on her swivel chair. "Not getting a response from his headset. Looks like he probably switched it off." She shrugged. "That means we can only wait for him to contact us now."

"No idea at all where he went?" The blond fighter frowned.

Xu shrugged again.

The lift door could be heard opening. Angry stomping followed.

"Oh crap," Zell quickly returned to his terminal so he could pretend he was busy. Even Xu winced visibly.

The stomping stopped.

"Where was he heading?!" Rinoa's shrill voice resounded in everyone's ears. "Don't hide it from me, tell me!"

"Easy now, Rinoa," as usual, it was Nida to the rescue. He gestured the fuming girl to a seat before she exploded at them all. Quistis backed away against the wall, pale eyebrows raised with slight relief, "like Xu here was explaining just now," Nida ignored Xu's look of protest at dragging her into the story, "we lost contact with him after he took the Ragnarok out of the Garden. We're still trying to touch base with him, but he's switched his headset off and now all we can do is to wait for him to contact us instead."

Rinoa opened her mouth to say something, but a flustered voice stopped her before she did. "SIR!" The voice shouted, gasping for breath as he made his way into the area. "Sorry to intrude, sir!" He paused for a while before continuing, "I know I'm not supposed to be here, but the librarians thought it would be proper to report!" He brandished a library card - insignificant at first until closer inspection.

Quistis, being nearest, was the first to blink. "It's Squall's library card." She stated.

"What in the world?!" Zell shook his head. "He was BORROWING books?!"

"Yes, sir," the librarian nodded, "just prior to heading for the parking lot."

"What books were those? Did you manage to see?" Quistis had her hands on her waist. She was just about as puzzled as the rest of the people in the room.

"See them, madam? We literally plucked them off the shelves for him!" He nodded again. "I'll repeat his message to the library word for word," he breathed, "All the books on the abandoned Deep Sea Research Center you have on hand, in ONE minute. I'll collect them at the corridor!" Stopping the stern-faced mimick, the library assistant returned to being poker. "That was the message."

There was silence in the room, besides the humming of the engine and the buzzing of the static screens. Finally Quistis laid a hand on the librarian's shoulder and smiled. "Thank you boy, that'll do for now."

The boy did a quick salute and scrambled out of the room, glowing with satisfaction.

"The Deep Sea Research Center?!" Zell was the first to screech after the boy was clear out of sight and sound. "Now THIS is really building into one thick plot."

"Why would he be going there for?" Quistis mused. "Wasn't he after some intruders in the Garden?"

"Hmm..." Xu rubbed her chin, "... there might be a connection to all of these things after all..."

When everybody stared at her like she was from outer space, she pulled out various sheets of paper from under a drawer and spread them across the only table in the middle of the room. They were chartings of latest monster findings around the globe.

"What's so special about these monsters?" Zell asked.

"Progressively sentient," was Xu's reply. She pointed to a creature which looked like a leopard, "this one could reportedly speak even."

Quistis looked at her strangely. "... and so... ?"

"So..." Xu jabbed at the papers, "... imagine if the intruder just now was one of the sentient monsters. The monster said something that was of great interest to our leader. What do you think that would be?"

Rinoa, silent until this point of time, spoke up, "He had been awfully concerned about the rumours of another Lunar Cry."

"Precisely," Xu nodded, "so if he was informed as to a situation that would demand his attention at the Deep Sea Research Center..."

"... that means that might be the next location for the Lunar Cry... ?"

It was unknown who finished Xu's sentence for her, but all the audience caught was the grave, underlying tone in the line.

"Well let's go there!" The sorceress in blue stood up and paced around restlessly. Everybody else groaned as the somber mood was broken and got back to minding their own businesses. Rinoa glanced around fleetingly. "Hey, don't ignore me!"

"Yes, Rinoa, we're charting a course there as we speak..." Nida mumbled, while whispering something to Xu, who nodded and proceeded to mapping out certain actions to the controls.

Then, the radio set cackled to life thunderously, making everybody jump out of their skins. Xu, who had the headset on, was the worst affected. She had gasped and removed the headset quickly - while Zell got busy transferring the contents to the speakers in the cockpit. The airwaves cackled for a bit more before someone cleared his throat at the other end.

"Hey Xu," the familiar voice of Squall droned, "thanks for keeping the connection open. I'm headed for the Deep Sea Deposit to investigate a vicious monster outbreak. This might just be the big break to clearing out monsters in Terr... ah, I mean, in our world. I've got some strong backup with me, so don't worry. And tell Rinoa not to worry too. Don't follow me. Don't even THINK of following me. I can handle this. I'll definitely come back. Right. Contact you again later. Over and out."

A long silence reigned after Squall shut out communication with a loud zipping sound from his side without waiting for anybody from the Garden to even bark a reply. Everybody glanced at everybody else, trying to figure out the true import of the message just heard. This meant that the threat of another Lunar Cry was possibly very real - but the fact that Squall was ready to face it all alone also bore bad connotations.

Either he had gone completely over the edge, or he really had some solid backup.

"Did he say... Deep Sea Deposit?" Quistis' concerned voice broke the silence.

"Yep."

"Wasn't that where we met... the Ultima Weapon?"

"... Yep."

The room sobered up.

"We'd better get to that research center... FAST."

 

\-------------------------------

 

The sun was bright and dense on the small, abandoned faculty, when the threesome disembarked from the reddish airship. Cloud wobbled on his feet for a few steps before he stopped to glance up at the scene before him. The towering buildings loomed and cast an ominous shadow on them all. The waves were deathly calm around this area, despite it being in the deep of the ocean. He looked over at Vincent, who was taking in the scenary evidently with similar thoughts on his mind.

Not for the first time of late, the feeling of familiarity permeated the travellers' senses.

"It looks quiet enough from the outside," Squall commented, trying to peer beneath the dark recesses of the Center entrance.

"Well," Cloud shrugged, "we'd better get in then."

"How's your arm?" The voice of Vincent suddenly jolted them into awareness of the fact that a third being existed.

"Oh man, you gotta stop doing that sometimes," Cloud had an arm on his chest, over his heart. Even though he was consciously aware of Vincent's presence it never really registered that the moody man would speak at all. He then checked his arm, "the arm is looking good - it should heal soon."

The raven-haired man nodded, walking briskly past the duo. "I'll snoop around first," was his announcement before he vanished into the darkness.

Cloud and Squall stared at each other.

"How LONG did you say you've been travelling with him?" Squall shook his head.

"Few thousand years, Squall," Cloud sighed good-naturedly, "lots more thousands to go."

The SeeD hesitated for a while. "You were serious about the few thousand years thing."

Gunshots could be heard from within the Center, but otherwise, all else was calm.

"What made you think I was joking?" The spikey-headed mercenary's face was wary.

To that, Squall could only put a hand on the back of his head in slight embarassment. "I don't know... it just feels really weird that I know someone who's just about centuries old..."

Another loud gunshot was heard and a bullet shell ricochetted off part of the entrance frame, cutting out a shape from the rocks there.

"... how did you live... so long?" Squall finally asked. "... how?"

Cloud pinned him with an intense stare. A while passed and he blinked to face the entrance proper.

"... Maybe I'm a child of Hyne as well," he started to walk forward, "I think Vincent's done in there. Time for us to get moving."

The mercenary pulled his hood and veil over just as he stepped into the Center proper, leaving the darker-haired teenager behind to battle with his own thoughts.

"A child of Hyne?" He murmured incoherently, nevertheless steadying himself and pushing forward into a run. Soon, he too, dissolved into the dark entrance. And a lonely wind howled through the island-center, silence dominating once more after the small commotion.

 

\-------------------------------

 

With them being more prepared in heart, mind and body, the threesome cut down the feral monsters hanging out around the area where Bahamut's core had been rather quickly. The ruby dragons dripped aqua-coloured drool on the floor, the liquid reacted strongly, cutting into the rock-mass like a hot knife sliding into butter. After clearing the top level of monsters Squall led the duo carefully into the crevasse where the steam engines were. Not surprisingly they were greeted by yet more monsters with more harmful drool than ever thought possible. While Squall checked the engines out Cloud and Vincent cut down the more aggressive beasts. Soon this level was cleared as well.

Bending down to check his hunt, Cloud poked the pool of aqua liquid with a stick he had broken off from the long ramble which curled it's way from this level upwards to the initial level. The branch dissolved messily. Undaunted he pulled out a random blue materia orb from his cloak and dropped it in the same pool of goo. The materia rolled around and glistened on occasion, but did not dissolve.

He exchanged suspicious glances with Vincent.

"So, where did you find that silver alloy you were showing me in the Garden?" Squall had made his way over while Cloud rose to full height.

"Um," Cloud scanned the area, locking sights on a monster which had fell just next to the climbing rambles, "right there, where the monster's lying."

Said monster was lying in a pool of mutated liquid, glowing and pulsating with the most mysterious aura.

"I don't think we should try to move that thing," Squall nodded sagely.

"Agreed," it was Vincent.

Cloud continued staring at the monster thoughtfully.

Nobody noticed as Squall made his way quietly to a hole of sorts in the ground. He peered intensely into it. "We could check out the lower levels to see if there are anymore of those metals," he offered, pointing into the gapping hole while looking at his fellow comrades.

"Sure thing," Cloud shrugged, "but first, we throw an Ultima spell down!"

Without waiting for approval, he released the ultimate offensive spell into the room beneath, earning a few monster moans as they fell noisily to the ground. Before the sounds ceased he stomped on the stairs leading downwards, followed closely by Vincent. Squall blinked, wide-eyed with surprise. Metal against monster skin could be heard and more monsters screeched and plonked unceremoniously to the ground. When he finally found his nerves again Squall clambered clumsily down to the sight of Cloud and Vincent surveying the damage done. His jaw went slack.

"I could really get used to this," Cloud was eyeing the door on the floor which led to the lower level.

"No sign of the metal here," Vincent reported.

"Then let's mosey!!" The buster sword was raised in a ready stance. The owner of the sword turned on his heels and was just about to repeat his stint when he was stopped.

"WAIT!" Squall held both his hands up, dashing towards the floor hole in the meantime. "Seriously now! There are ENGINES in every level! What if the spell got the engine? Then we'd never be able to make our way out!"

"Short of swimming to the surface?" Cloud raised an eyebrow in query. Not that it was visible, of course - since he had half his face hooded and veiled.

"Short of swimming to the surface." Squall confirmed.

"Hmm..." Cloud pondered.

"I could set up a wall around the engines," Vincent pointed out.

"Great idea!" The bright blond boy snapped his fingers. "Do it, Vincent!"

And thus they wreaked havoc with the monsters all the way to the Deposit, Squall having a hard time trying to keep up with the dynamic duo. They reached the last level in no time. As they faced the large entrance leading down into the ocean floor Squall spotted the duo exchanging yet another glance between themselves. They seemed to know something about this place he didn't. Not that it bothered him, but it did get a little distracting after a while. Still he pushed it to one side and approached the duo. "Welcome to the Deep Sea Deposit," he introduced.

He found Cloud's head turned in his direction, and could feel his inquiring eyes. Yet he could not be sure, so he did not elaborate. Taking the lead, he stepped into the excavation site proper, beckoning for the others to follow him.

They did, and amazing things happened.

It started with a slight tremor. The trembling stopped as quickly as it came, so it could be dismissed as unimportant. Then the most peculiar of sounds rang out in their ears - like a hundred thousand voices howling at the same time in a soft murmur. Squall was not adversely affected, but he noticed that Cloud had been rooted to the ground from since his first step into the site, the colour drained from his face. He wavered on his feet before falling onto his knees, his palms being the only things that stopped his face from hitting the floor.

"What's wrong?" The SeeD panicked. Even Vincent was visibly disturbed.

Both hands went to clasping his head, as Cloud said, "The... The Planet..."

"The planet??" Squall blinked twice in succession. He held a hand out to the mercenary who looked like he was in pain and helped him to his feet. "What do you mean?"

"Gaia," Cloud whispered, turning a single, revealed eye on the leader of the SeeD. In a louder voice he continued, "the Planet is crying out... which is strange, considering we're not even on the Planet..."

The voices gradually ceased. By that time Cloud had straightened himself and was shaking his head furiously to clear it.

"Well?" Vincent asked.

"Let's head down," the blond replied tersely, adjusting his wrist armour in an effort to quell the uneasiness in his stomach.

Wordlessly they progressed down the steps, which were strangely devoid of monsters, until they arrived at the first platform where the patterns on the floor was more legible. There, too, stood the statue of a lady with wings. Cloud bent down and swept some dust away from the floor, tilting his head in an attempt to read the writing they were stepping on. "It looks like Cetra writing," he finally concluded, standing up once more. He glanced at the statue and remained thoughtful. There was a broken plaque lying at the feet of the statue which Vincent picked up and subsequently put together. "What does it say?" The mercenary asked curiously.

"I can't read it," the vampire-like man replied monotonously. Squall edged in for a better view.

"'We shall conquer'," he recited, "'time and space'." Looking up from the plaque, he found both Cloud and Vincent eyeing him peculiarly.

"Didn't you hear it?" The SeeD was befuddled.

Cloud blinked. "Hear what?"

The younger boy pointed to the plate Vincent was holding, "That thing. It sort of says something into your head. I think it's one of the Centra relics."

"Centra," Vincent repeated thoughtfully.

"Well anyway, back to finding the metal," Cloud adjusted his hood and glanced at the rows of staircase leading downwards. The bottom echoed with winds and other unknown cries, making the place more eerie than it already was. "You don't suppose we could proceed down there to continue the search, do you?" He pointed down and looked at Squall.

Squall merely shrugged. "If you're not afraid of whatever else looms further down," he was quick to add.

The hooded mercenary was already moving downwards, indicating either him not having heard the warning at all, or that he didn't really care whatever else loomed down there. The younger boy took a moment to glance at Vincent, who had the same aura of enigma as when he had first saw the man. Briefly, the ex-Turk flashed his crimson eyes at the SeeD, making him jump. Quickly he turned and followed on Cloud's tail, however, so Squall was left with nothing to do but stare once again at the fearless duo make their way down the pit of doom.

There was only silence as they trudged on, the place blissfully quiet in between the occasional spurts of howling from the seemingly bottomless stairway down. When Cloud reached another pedestral with a quartz-like structure sticking out conspicuously he approached it and touched the greenish-blue jewel gently.

And it responded to him.

Slowly at first, but surely, the structure glowed an uncanny blue, then green. Squall watched on in awe as the thing finally engulfed itself with a layer of green mist before disintegrating into the air as tendrils of emerald energy. They brushed by him softly and sank into the walls beside him.

"What was that?" Squall's eyes were still on the spot where the energy stream had last been seen disappearing.

Cloud stood up, dusting himself and shaking the edges of his overly long cloak. "Mako." He plainly stated.

"Mako?" Squall blinked, his brain scrambling to assemble the facts. "Isn't that the lifeforce of Gai... ah... your planet?" He dumbly corrected himself, almost forgetting that there was somebody else who probably didn't know about the entire time compression saga he had gone through with Cloud. "How could it be here?"

"I don't know how, but it's here all right," Cloud shrugged, setting his sights on the lower levels. He glanced momentarily at Vincent. "You feel that?"

The taller man nodded solemnly.

"Think we're up to it?" Cloud continued, adjusting the materia on his wrist band.

"I am," Vincent confirmed.

Both of them glanced at Squall.

"..." Squall blinked in response, "... Whatever," he sighed.

The rest of the trip down was uneventful, with each Mako crystal glowing at their passing. At the bottom Squall introduced them to the excavation machine, talking briefly about his encounter with the Ultima Weapon when they operated the apparatus, but mentioned no names. Vaguely he managed to relate his concerns about another Lunar Cry at this particular spot. Then he was interrupted.

"This is the ocean floor?" It was Vincent.

"Yes," Squall decided that he wouldn't waste words with the ebony-haired man.

In response Vincent turned to look at Cloud, who nodded and set his broadsword aside, going down on one knee to examine the mud. After a while he clenched his fist and hit the ground hard, getting a few soft 'thuds' in response. Finding nothing he moved to another spot on the ground; and another - until he was almost by the waterside. The water itself was strangely green, and pulsated somewhat. When Cloud approached it, they glowed in unison, as if welcoming the mercenary. Squall could only behold the scene with awe and wonderment.

"Hey Squall," Cloud turned around and gestured at the SeeD, "mind throwing a few stones into the water over here?"

"... ?" Squall was beyond himself with confusion, but nevertheless he bent down and picked up a few random rocks. "Sure thing," he mumbled and tossed the stones over to the waters Cloud had indicated for him to. Instead of skipping the surface a few times like they usually would, all the stones sank into the waters without jumping at least once. The dark-haired teenager blinked in surprise. He had been the best rock-skipper in the entire Garden... or so he thought.

Unconvinced, he stepped closer to the water. They looked shallow enough when he peered through the clear waters into the depths. But there was something missing from the ocean floor beneath the small ripple of waters here.

The rocks he had thrown just now were nowhere to be seen.

*What's going on?* Squall stepped forward into the waters, and plunged down - one moment too late to hearing Cloud's warning to stay away.

There was a whooshing sensation and he slipped right through the surface of the water, not getting a single drop of liquid on his shirt in the event - surprising him even more. The journey downwards - beyond the Ocean Deposit floor - was short and quickly he found himself staring at a picturesque, paranomic view of a planet with it's lush greenery and sparkling clear ocean floor.

Under normal circumstances, Squall would have enjoyed the view tremendously.

However, plunging downwards to the ground with an abnormally fast speed did not count as a normal circumstance.

"WHAT THE-- ??!" Squall yelled against the surpassing winds rushing at him from the ground.

It looked like it was a long, long drop down.

After a while, though, the winds stopped coming at him from below and began to whip around him instead. That, coupled with the loud flapping sounds of something akin to a thick cloth being tossed about hither and thither by the same winds, prompted him to glance upwards with a tiny twinge of hope. Sure enough, the hooded form of everybody's favourite mercenary was holding onto his hand, preventing his fall. In turn, Cloud was being held on to by someone else from beyond the skies. It was as if Cloud's hand was just cut off from view at a certain point in the skyline. Squall could semi-guess what laid beyond that dimension and how they could get back, but was cut short by a disgruntled scoff from the person who saved him.

"I swear," Cloud shook his head in mock disbelief, "that even Zidane acts more prudent in times like these."

Squall only had time to press his lips together into a slight grin before they were hauled up into the heavens - right back into the floor of the Ocean Deposit - by Vincent.

None of them spoke for a while.

"I think," it was the Garden leader who broke the silence, "I finally understand why the excavating team stopped the project."

That earned him a few quirky eyebrows.

Lifting a finger to point to the sky, Squall explained, "They must have hauled up a couple of dozen of monsters instead of the minerals they were originally looking for," he then pointed to the surface of the glowing green waters they had just fallen down into, "because eventually this placed was abandoned and sealed. The monsters we've met so far are also some sort of aerial monsters. That means they probably flew here from beyond the dimension in that Mako pool over there."

"So what can we do now?" Cloud sounded rather frustrated. "The metal is nowhere to be seen, and we've got this new monster problem."

"I wonder if the metal on the Weapon could be the clue..." Squall murmured to himself, but was overheard by the two Mako-enhanced mercenaries, who stalked over and cornered him.

"Weapon?" Cloud exclaimed, "Did you just say WEAPON?"

"Ah, yes..." The confused SeeD made twirling motions with his hands, "... remember that big monster I mentioned to you just now? It's name was the Ultima Weapon... It didn't look aerial though, so maybe it's a product of this planet..."

"..." Cloud stared at him for a few more dumbfounded moments before turning away, one hand on his head. "... I don't know Squall, but if my hunch is right, then the other WEAPONs should have already made their way past the dimension borders to this planet as well..."

"That is impossible," Vincent shook his head slightly, "the Planet and this one are two completely different entities, after all. The Planet would not create WEAPONs to protect another Planet's welfare."

"Maybe these two planets were originally one in the first place, then," Cloud remarked softly, "which is strange, again, because we DID feel the presence of a WEAPON when we were headed down just now. The presence seems to have diluted."

The ruby-eyed man suddenly turned his head to glance upwards, surprise written all over his face.

"What's wrong, Vincent?" Cloud blinked in confusion. Then it hit him as well, and he collapsed onto the ground in a heap, scaring the SeeD who was standing beside him. "Oh... no..." he managed to mutter, face contorted with pain and dolor. The earth under them shook with violent tremours, this time showing no signs of stopping. Squall quickly helped Cloud to his feet and glanced at Vincent, who looked even more somber than usual.

"What's going on?" Squall asked the older person, who spared him a curt glance before pointing upwards.

"The WEAPONs are here," the ex-Turk narrowed his eyes, "right above this research center."

While Squall digested what he thought was important information, Cloud pushed himself away from being helped and stood shakily on his two feet, one hand still on his forehead. His teeth were locked against each other in a tight grit and his face was pale beyond compare. Retrieving his sword from where he had left it when he tried to examine the floor, he turned to his two companions and nodded sternly. "We'd better go quickly. I think the WEAPONs might just have the answer to the location of the metal we're trying to look for."

 

\-------------------------------

 

"I don't know, Rinoa," Zell jerked his gloves on in semi-exasperation while the sorceress stood at the exit of the Garden, waiting for the rest of them to get equipped, "what's the big rush anyway?"

The girl turned and gave the fighter an Evil Eye, "Squall is in trouble and all you guys do is sit around and lounge?" She frowned, "I thought you were better friends with him than that!"

"We weren't exactly lounging, Rinoa," Selphie jumped out of the entrance and landed on the dry ground of the Deep Sea Research Center, still hopping away. Turning around, she continued, "we were busy trying to fix the Garden up, remember?"

"I know," Rinoa sounded cross, "I was involved too... but we can't just let Squall run off into danger like that!"

"Squall can take care of himself," Quistis smiled reassuringly, appearing by Rinoa's side, "but... against the likes of a Weapon, I'm not so sure if he can do it alone..."

"Precisely!" Rinoa clasped Quistis' hands in her own. "I knew you would understand, Quistis!" She beamed from ear to ear, and the blonde tried to mimick her overjoy without much avail. Zell walked by them, still mumbling away about how this was not a good idea and whatnots. Irvine continued to load and check his gun from inside the Garden. They remained like that for a while, until Selphie gasped sharply, attracting all attention.

A large, dark shadow loomed over the Garden - a foregleam to something big, bad and nasty. Selphie could only point and put a hand over her mouth in utter disbelief, before the rest scrambled out of the Garden to look at what she was pointing at.

Streams of water continued to slip off the blue entity's form, as the armoured Weapon glared down at the minor assembly of fighters standing on the mobile island research center. Zell could be heard gulping. "That thing is big." He stated plainly.

"And it has a big tail coming this way!!" Irvine threw himself to the ground and yelled, "DUCK!," to his entourage, which they did. Said big tail did a violent sweep against the surface of the mobile island back and forth, before the creature slapped it's tail back into the water and rose even taller, squealing (??!) with displeasure.

"What in the world is THAT??!" Zell stood up quickly and put a hand against his forehead to block the sun out while he looked upwards at the enormous monster.

"It looks like it's from the Weapons series," Irvine cocked his rifle and settled for a confident smile, "that's going to get it's body riddled with the same amount of shots I put in the rest of the other Weapons! Whey-hey!"

"Irvine..." Selphie semi-glared at him. She hated it when he tried to act hero in front of the others.

Only Rinoa did not join in the minor laughter bout the others did when Selphie threatened to throttle Irvine as bad as she was going to the Weapon. She looked up into the amethyst eyes of the enemy and was struck with a chill. Quistis noticed this quickly, being the nearest beside the girl, and with a frown took a step closer.

The girl in blue opened her trembling mouth, and whispered, "They're here... they're here to get me..."

"What?" Quistis only had time to ask before heavy footsteps from behind them all came within hearing range. She turned around, as did everyone else, and saw the flustered face of Squall taking them all in with one glance.

"You guys!" There was utter disbelief in his voice. "I thought I told you not to follow me!"

The incredulous glares he received only told him how ridiculous his request for them not to follow him had been.

"Hmm..." The hooded figure beside Squall, virtually invisible until he spoke, glanced up at the currently immobile Weapon with slight admiration, "... that thing's gotten bigger since the last time we met!"

"Shut UP!" Squall gave Cloud a kick in the shins, resulting in the latter having to double over on the ground with pain. Turning to the others he asked, "Are you guys all right?"

"We're fine," the blond fighter inched nearer to their leader to report on their status. Then, in a softer voice he added, "but Rinoa's REAAAALLY mad so I would run if I were you!"

Gulping, the morose teenager turned to look at Rinoa. Instead of a fuming sorceress, however, he found a slightly pale and worried girl trying to come to terms with something within herself. "Rinoa?" He asked, concerned.

The girl glanced at him, still worried. "Squall..." she closed her eyes and put her arms around herself, "... that monster... it's here for me... it's trying to stamp out the sorceress within me..."

As if on cue, the Weapon growled and took a provoked stance.

Taking long, lingering looks back and forth Rinoa and the unworldly monster, Squall came to the conclusion that he either got rid of the monster, or it would step in and take Rinoa away from him forever.

A bright flash of light blinded everybody momentarily. When they finally adjusted to the new lighting they were aghast to find that the Weapon had raised it's huge and ugly mouth to gather a ball of tremendous energy - just like Bahamut usually did. The dark vortex rippled with an indescribable kind of power and without warning the Weapon tossed it at the crew on the island.

"Oh no!" Zell fumbled with his magic stockpile, growing increasingly nervous as the energy blast drew closer. "If it gets us the entire island goes... together with the Garden and the Ragnarok!"

"Do something, Squall!" Irvine tried firing a few of his Dark Shots into the blast, but they disintegrated before even coming close.

*What??!* was Squall's immediate response in his mind. *What in the world are you expecting me to do??* He turned to stare angrily at Irvine, while holding Rinoa in his arms, the girl having grown too fearful to be standing firmly on her two feet.

The last thing they all heard before the blast hit something hard, was Selphie's squeals of 'Oh no! Oh no!'. A painful flash of light followed.

And then there was utter silence.

The smoke soon dissipated, and the pressure of the blast could no longer be felt.

"Can't let you guys do anything without wondering if it'll go wrong, can we?" Cloud's smirk could be heard through his voice. During the chaos he had, together with the help of Vincent, managed to put up a barrier big enough to neutralize the blast and thus saving the island, all the vehicles parked there, and the people still on it.

While the others gaped at him in awe, Squall slapped him upside the head. "Show off!" He grumbled, much to the surprise of his fellow comrades. He was the last person they would have expected to be acting chummy with a stranger. "For goodness sake, if that thing is from your planet, at least tell us how to deal with it!"

Cloud hadn't appeared to have been paying attention - rather, he was scrutinizing the Weapon with a keen eye. "Well it looks like we might have to pull that double summon trick off again," he finally concluded, turning to look at the SeeD.

"Bahamut?" Squall raised an eyebrow.

"Bahamut."

They glanced at each other knowingly.

"Hopefully we can do it before that thing sends another blast at us!" Cloud's cheerful voice made Squall bristle. Yet in another moment, the hooded mercenary was out of sight from the people standing around, leaving them speechless at the exchange.

Squall put his hands on Rinoa's shoulders and looked seriously into her eyes, "Rinoa," he began, "I know you can do this, okay? Keep the shield around the island up until we finish the summon. We're counting on you!"

The girl could only blink and nod dumbly before Squall ran to a secluded spot and began his incantation.

Her resolved steeled, Rinoa returned to looking at the Weapon who she had decided was hell-bent on effacing her from the planet. This time, however, she looked at it with determination burning from her soul. The moment the shield was down, she knew, the Weapon's attacks would reach the people and the island with it's full impact and destroy them all. How could she let fear overcome her so easily? She was a child of Hyne, and a chosen sorceress at that. Nobody was going to stop her from protecting the ones she loved.

Not even this ugly looking thing with barnacles hanging all over it.

The shield held up by the time the next blast came, but it was over the moment Bahamut arrived in it's twin glory, blowing the Weapon up into oblivion before it even knew what hit it.

 

\-------------------------------

 

The Garden was now safely poised over the middle of nowhere again, and the Ragnarok parked within it. The students went back to their usual routine and it basically seemed like nothing had ever happened before.

"And so you never got to relish a single piece of the metal." Squall's head was bowed, and his arms crossed in front of his chest. He was walking along the round corridor of the Garden's ground level, avoiding panicking students as they dashed from facility to facility.

Head similarly bowed, Cloud sighed. "I got some charbroiled filament of sorts, but nope, no metal."

"Excuse me!" A SeeD in training dashed at the duo from in front, forcing them to each take a step to the side so the student could run past without bumping into them. A trail of smoke followed.

The pause was an excellent opportunity for Cloud to look at the surroundings with the hint of a smile on his face. "So this is what the Garden really looks like..."

Beside him, Squall actually attempted a Zidane grin. "Yeah, the real thing look better doesn't it?"

Cloud merely smiled and kept moving, while Squall fell quietly in place alongside.

As they passed by the cafeteria, Squall quipped, "How about a hotdog, my treat?"

"What is this, your cheapo version of a farewell present?"

"Heeey!"

The blond haired mercenary chuckled and laid a hand on Squall's shoulder. "Relax, I was just joking."

"I know." Squall nevertheless remained solemn. "But do you have to leave so soon?"

Cloud stopped walking and turned around to look at Squall with a pained expression on his face. "Would you rather I stay and watch you grow old and..." He stopped himself by clamping a hand over his mouth, cursing his immaturity. As careless as Squall sometimes was, he could not help but notice the whispers of melancholy clouding his friend's eyes.

But to this end, Cloud was right.

It must be terrible to know that your loved ones can only live on in your memories.

Lost in his own thoughts, Squall almost didn't feel Cloud lay a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "Which is why," the mercenary took to being secretive, "you'd better be good to your girl."

It wasn't until Cloud had turned and walked away, almost out of sight, that Squall blinked and realized what had just been said to him. *Does he mean...* The SeeD gasped sharply, his walk blistering into a frantic run as he tried to catch up with the mercenary along the corridor. He did find him, eventually - at the front lobby of the Garden - together with the entire gang, who were busy shaking Cloud's hands warmly. Cloud tipped a finger in Squall's direction, almost playfully, and the morose teenager thought he felt his blood boil in semi-exasperation. Still he walked to where the group was converging and offered his half-hearted farewells as well.

"See," Selphie was busy bouncing up and down, "I TOOOO~~LD you the intruders didn't mean us any harm!"

The rest of them groaned. Selphie had been at it for the whole day.

"But why are you in such a hurry to go?" The gunslinger asked curiously. "You seem like a cool guy. And best of all, Squall actually TALKS to you!"

"Yeah, we know how small that category of people can get sometimes." Zell butt in. Peals of laughter followed soon after, and Squall found himself cross with everybody again for making fun of his talking habits. Cloud was looking privately amused, and it was then that the SeeD leader realized the blond mercenary had hidden under his hood again.

"You really ARE anti-social, you know that?" Squall came into the conversation before it became a full-fledged discussion of his inability to converse. He thought he could see Cloud roll his eyes from beneath his veil.

"Tell me that again when you can give me a list of TEN people you talk to at least once a day," the mercenary grinned from ear to ear, leading the group into another bout of laughter. Squall wondered briefly if he could attempt to murder Cloud - but that soon became an impossibility when the subject in question started moving away towards the Garden exit. "It's been fun, guys," the grin had settled into a quiet smile now, "another day, then..."

With a wave and a leap, Cloud disappeared from the terrain of the Garden - leaving them in peace once more - like there had never been an intruder before.

Rinoa stepped close to Squall, who had his eyes glued thoughtfully on the last spot Cloud was standing in. She peeked at the boy from the corner of her eyes and coughed for attention. "Um... Squall, don't get angry, but I really want to tell you this," she grasped the folds of Squall's jacket and bit her lips.

"I keep having this feeling that I've seen that guy before."

To her surprise, the SeeD merely glanced at her and smiled gently. "Why would I be angry at that for?" He put his hand on her head in a pat. "And besides," his tone was now serious, "it's probably true."

Although not understanding fully, Rinoa nodded and smiled as well.

"Aaaah well, time to get back to work..." Squall stretched and commenced walking towards the elevator. "... hey Zell, come on, we got stuff to do up there."

Only when he stepped into the lift with Zell did he realize that he had forgotten to ask Cloud to pass Zidane a message for him.

*Ah well,* the SeeD fingered the Lionheart gingerly, wondering briefly about the experiences of an eternal existence, *there's always next time...*

 

\-------------------------------  
hiwa(02) datta  
7/3/2003


	34. Side-Story 3

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

\-------------------------------  
sore kara...  
\-------------------------------  
hiwa(03) da

 

Baku started his day with a fantastic snarl.

He stormed to the front of the theatre, where the rest of Tantulus were putting up posters for their next big act. Several of the crew turned around at his entrance and perked up a little, wondering if he had new instructions for them. A while passed and Baku did not say a word, only twisting his head around, seemingly looking for somebody. A few passersby waved at him, but he paid no heed to them. Finally, he approached a busy-looking Blank who was hammering away on a plank of wood to mount more posters on.

"Where is he?" Baku asked.

Blank glanced up momentarily, puzzled. "Who?"

"Don't give me that! Where's Zidane? Get him out now!" The bigger sized man threw both hands up in the air in his usual, animated ways.

"..." Blank kept silent, with look of genuine surprise on his face. "I thought he had a headache and was sleeping in our hideout?"

"Don't give me that!" Baku exploded. "The little rascal ran away with yesterday's takings before I could even blink! Man, when I get my hands on that little thief... hm," the big man simmered down, "you mean you didn't know about his escapade this time?"

The blindfolded bandit scratched the back of his head earnestly. "Sorry Baku, but this time, he didn't tell me." He shrugged. "Don't worry, he'll be back in a day or two. You know Zidane." That said and done, he went back to hammering at the wood piece.

"Let's hope to the higher ups that he does," Baku gruffly said, before turning back to return the way he came from, a small tinge of concern audible in his tone, "together with yesterday's takings! Otherwise he'll be in for a big beating! HAH!"

He stormed off the path, back to their hideout, so he could settle some matters before returning to bark orders at the rest of the gang. Blank sighed as he watched the retreating form of Baku. "Damn it, Zidane," he looked at the half hammered wood in his hands, suddenly losing a great deal of his original fervour, "you'd better be all right." Subconsciously he wiped the sweat off his brow, gathering his tools and laying them out again, interest waned. He sighed again, and picked his hammer up. "Well," he drove another nail into the wooden block, "idiots won't learn their lesson until they go through it themselves."

A flutter of battered cape attracted Blank's attention, making him look up from his work. Looming before him was a man a lot taller than he was, and the man cast a comfortable shadow over his wearied self. The stranger had a hood obscuring a large part of his face, and with the sun as his backdrop, Blank could only make out a dark silouette of the stranger's form.

The man appeared to be looking at the poster he was trying to mount on the board with avid interest, seeing how he had remained unmoving for the past few moments now. "Excuse me," when the stranger finally spoke, his voice was soft and pleasant, a welcoming contrast against the hot summer humidity, "is that a poster for the Tantulus I'm seeing here?"

*Oh,* thought Blank, *a fan!* Eagerly, the boy nodded. "Yeah! We're having a special play on Lord Ipsen Avon's famous play - 'Wishing Upon a Star'. It'll last until the Hunt. Do come! You'll love it!"

"Hm..." the man, however, appeared to be interested in other matters, "so the Tantulus are in this town... that's cool." he rose to full height and started examining the surroundings. "Hey boy, you know where I can find a really high spot in this town?"

"A really high spot?" The younger boy was unclear if those were the words he just heard. When he saw the stranger nod he merely shrugged and glanced around quickly. "How high should it be?"

The stranger thought about it for a while. "High enough so I can see the entire town." He finally decided, with a slight smile.

"Well, maybe you can try the top of the theatre house, though the highest spot is really the Palace - but you wouldn't want to try going there, trust me," Blank grinned knowingly. The hooded man nodded.

"Many thanks for the help," he bowed slightly and saluted easily, like such actions were of second nature to him. "The theatre house... is it that tall building over there?" He pointed northwards.

"Yeah, it's northwards," Blank turned in that direction and confirmed. When he turned back, however, there was nothing left of the stranger but a tiny whisp of dust where he had previously stood. The boy could do nothing but gape. "Where did he..."

"BLANK!" It was Baku, who had returned with a vengeance. Blank squirmed at the vehemence in the voice and quickly took his tools out again. "Get back to work, you lazy bum!" Baku whapped him lightly on the shoulder. Without waiting to see if Blank had returned to his duties, he went to check out the rest of the crew in the midst of preparing for the play that night. More shouts could be heard, and Blank quietly hammered at the boards again.

"It's getting to be a really stranger day..." He murmured quietly, to nobody in particular.

 

\-------------------------------

 

The winds of Lindblum were best felt up high. The amount of airships hovering around the airports were testimonies to that fact. Even in the heat of summer, ships continued to roar in and out of the ports, busy in their trade and business. Whenever one ship passed by the turbulance it caused could be slightly felt if one sat atop a really high roof. Instead of being provoking, the brief breeze once in a while could actually serve to be inspirational - if one was in the mood to linger and meditate the scene.

Cloud knew it would be safe for him to unveil himself as he perched on the roof of the theatre house. The wind whipped around him comfortably and he felt obliged to close his eyes for a few seconds, if only just to enjoy how the wind made his senses react to the surroundings.

A small noise beside him made him lose his concentration. Yet as he turned to face the maker of that noise, no offence could be detected on his countenance.

"You're not here to listen to the wind howl, are you." Vincent's words would have come across to anybody else as stoic, cold, and uncaring. But to Cloud, they sounded nothing like that. If anything, he must have found them to be extremely hilarious, for he started to chortle and snigger.

"Okay," he said when he finally stopped laughing lightly, "help me keep a lookout, hm?" He raised an outstretched palm over his forehead, glancing outwards at the town below him. "He should be quite easy to find. I think he must be the only person in the world to have a swishing monkey tail behind him."

"In fact," Vincent drawled on, "I already saw him."

"Hm... what?!" Cloud jerked backwards and stared incredulously at his companion.

"Yesterday." The ex-Turk continued smoothly. "I was under the impression that you would rather locate him yourself, though."

The blond mercenary kept a poker face. "With friends like Vincent, who needs excitement?"

Vincent did his best take of a sweeping bow.

 

\-------------------------------

 

The portmaster could tell that the boy had been running the entire morning but just glancing at him. Sullied boots, a sooted face - coupled with his unkempt attire cut at various odd angles by sharp things, probably that of thorns, it was obvious that the little kid hadn't taken the conventional path here, too.

Trying to be helpful, the plump man bent downwards and smiled at the panting boy. "How may I be of service, sonny?"

The blond boy looked up immediately at the question, his deep blue eyes reflecting an earnest desire for an answer to the question he asked, "Excuse me sir," he drew out a rather large bag of coins from within his clutches, "do you suppose I could go anywhere with these?"

The chubby man laughed heartily. He recognized this little lad as one of Baku's followers. Particularly, the one who was always giving the larger man some sort of trouble or another. "Where did you get that?" He smiled and asked the boy, pointing at the bag of money. Zidane flushed crimson.

"I... I took it from the theatre house..."

*At least he's honest,* the portmaster nodded, *then again... being honest doesn't really write well on the Tantulus' list of merits, does it...*

Laughing again, the man asked, "And where would you like to go to, my boy? And what may your name be?"

The boy perked up again. "My name is Zidane!" He exclaimed proudly. "Please take me to far, far places!"

"Far, far places, hm?" The man fingered his pipe gently. "Anywhere in particular?"

"Anywhere!" Zidane stood straight, and his face grew serious. "Away from Lindblum! And the theatre!" He stuck his tongue out at that word, like it was taboo. "Oh, and and! Please take me to the most blue place in the world!"

"Blue?" Now that was new. "You mean the colour blue?"

Zidane nodded furiously. "Because, because!" he beamed in excitement, "I was born in a really really blue place! If I go there, I'll see my people! Maybe, maybe! I'll even see my parents!"

The portmaster's face grew solemn. He remembered that Baku had indeed picked this boy up from certain death in the streets of Lindblum, and taken him under his wing. Nothing about Zidane was known to anybody - even Baku, or Zidane himself. It was growing steadily obvious, though, that Zidane appeared to be the only kind of his around Lindblum. It was no wonder that he sought to find people who could reassure him that he was just like anybody else, and not an oddity who had no place to profess to be home.

As the portmaster prepared to speak, however, Zidane was suddenly tugged upwards by the scuff of his collar. He only had time to give a small 'meep!' before finding himself dangling in mid-air, in the hands of a stranger hooded in tattered brown.

"So there you are, Zidane!" The soft, but authorative voice of Cloud could be heard from under the hood. Turning slightly to acknowledge the portmaster, Cloud continued, "Sorry for all the trouble he's been causing you! We'll be off now!"

Without waiting for the portmaster to protest, Cloud zipped away in record time.

 

\-------------------------------

 

"Lemme down! Lemme down, you punk!" Zidane struggled in vain against the strong grasp of Cloud, who was by now bounding quite quickly over the rooftops of the Lindblum residential estates. He did not stop struggling until Cloud eventually did drop him off at the chosen spot - the rooftop of the theatre house he had been perched on just some time ago.

"Hmm..." Cloud bent down and examined the small boy, who laid flat against the roof and glanced at the entrance of the theatre, a little livid. "Zidane?"

Zidane jerked upwards to look at Cloud. "Who are you?" He asked with a frown. "How did you know my name?"

The mercenary laughed. Then, with a shake of his hand he waved the questions off. "Don't bother yourself with nonsensical questions like that!" He then squat down so he could be level with the boy. "What's wrong, Zidane? You're scared of the theatre, aren't you?"

At that, the monkey-boy stuck his tongue out and crossed his arms over his chest in a rebellious pose. "Scared, nothing! I just don't like the theatre, that's all!"

"Is that so?" Cloud was genuinely surprised. "Mind telling me why?"

"Because there are so many lines to remember!" The young bandit swayed from side to side, looking at the skies, perhaps so glad that he had found a ranting partner that he failed to notice that said ranting partner was a complete stranger. "And nobody means anything they say on the stage! It's so boring! I don't know why people like doing this. And! I don't even know why people like watching it!"

Cloud watched the boy pout, as he himself settled into a thoughtful position. Seconds later, he quipped, "Seriously, now?"

Zidane looked at him questioningly.

"You," Cloud pointed, "are looking for your blue little paradise, aren't you?"

"My hometown!" Zidane rebutted.

"Well let's see..." the blond mercenary fiddled with his chin, "... how do you suppose you could find it?"

The young bandit simmered down and glanced about him unsurely. "I don't know..." he began slowly after a long silence, "... take a boat and go around the world, maybe? Because if it's blue, I'm sure it's somewhere near the sea!" His eyes twinkled with hope.

"And then?" Cloud prompted, propping his head upon his palm, staring straight at the boy who was overflowing with emotions.

"Huh?" Zidane was slow to catch the prompt.

"What will you do after that?" Cloud asked. "After you find your people, your paradise, that blue haven you suppose you could call home?"

Tail swishing violently behind him, Zidane looked at his dangling feet, and for the first time since being forced to climb the heights of the rooftop, felt the gentle breeze of Lindblum. The minisculed airships tottered about around the large airport of the city, making their marks with a lot of smoke and turbulance. Zidane's innocent eyes beheld the Lindblum skylines. He bit his lower lip.

"I... I suppose," he did not take his eyes off the sky, "I would... well... eat with them... play with them... do stuff... and... sleep in my own bed..."

"Hmm..." There was an underlying sadness in Cloud's voice, "... and what else would you be doing?"

"That's... all, I guess?"

"Wouldn't life be the same as now then, even if you should find your people?"

"....... Well... Yeah... I guess..."

Letting his bangs cover his eyes, Zidane continued to stare at his feet.

Cloud smiled. "See? Nothing changes, and will change even after you find your people. So why are you so unhappy with your life now? Is it because the people around you aren't your real relatives?"

"No!" Zidane was quick to protest, rising to full height with a serious look on his face. "No! Not like that! They're good, kind people! They... They treat me better than any relative would ever!" He lowered his head again, a frown in place. "But...

"... it's just not the same..."

Cloud watched, seemingly impassively, as Zidane gritted his teeth, trying to reach a decision. He tilted his head to a side after a while and smiled. "Then why aren't you trying?"

The question caught Zidane off guard. "Trying?" He parroted.

"Yes, trying," Cloud's smile got wider, "trying your best to play your part. Doing your best to prove to people that no, your people may have thought you were too little to look for when you got lost, but that's not the case. One day when you've made your mark in the world, your people will come for you, the worthy one. The one they should look for. The one, who tried his best."

As Cloud finished his little discourse, he saw Zidane trying to wipe fallen tears away with his little arm. "Of course," the blond mercenary began to grope around himself for the little souveneir he had prepared for Zidane, "you should never give up trying to find your people, too."

Before he knew it, two shiny coins were stuffed into Zidane's hands. "?" The blond bandit looked questioningly at the stranger.

"Keep them," Cloud grinned, "and look at them everytime you need to try harder. Just one thing about the coins - don't bring them around with you. They lose their charm that way." Zidane could have sworn he saw Cloud wink from under his veil, but since the veil was rather thick, he could not be sure.

"Who are you?" Zidane asked again, this time in a calmer tone, with a fiery determination to find out.

"Nobody you should know," Cloud pat the boy on his back so hard that he almost lost his balance, "and remember, Zidane, sometimes, all you need to do, is to try. Ipsen's plays aren't that hard to remember, you know?" The mercenary pointed up at the skies. "Like that line from 'Wishing Upon a Star'. Can you believe what he wrote? It was like, 'I exist to meet you, my beautiful shooting star!' How more awfully cliche can you get, hm?" He nudged Zidane in his ribs, and the boy found himself hardly able to contain his giggles. It was true that he had read of such a line in the play, but then, mashed among a throng of other words, this line was just like one other line in the grim outset of a boring play.

Zidane never knew lines to be fun. At least, not until this day.

"OH NO!" Cloud suddenly raised his voice and stood, posing dramatically.

"Wha... what??!" Zidane almost fell backwards in shock. He found himself staring at the grinning white teeth of Cloud.

"Your big brother here has business all over the place, Zidane," Cloud wagged a finger. In truth, he hadn't been expecting to meet up with Zidane so early in his childhood either, and he didn't intend to mar his younger years any longer. It appeared that his long time spent travelling had blunted his time perception, instead of sharpening it. Of course, Vincent did nothing to help, even if he knew. Suppressing a sigh, Cloud ruffled Zidane's hair. "Don't worry, boy, you haven't seen the last of me yet."

In an attempt to hide his embarassment, Zidane stomped his foot and said, "Bah! Who said I wanted to see you again?"

"Oh no, nobody said anything like that," Cloud laughed, "but, I tell you. You /will/ see me again. Mark my words!"

When Zidane looked up, he found himself staring at the retreating figure of the strange stranger who seemed to have too much time on his hands. So quickly he vanished, that the boy hardly had time to raise a hand into a wave. He blinked, wondering if he had just been chatting with an apparition of his imagination. Only one sentence, however, echoed firmly throughout his mind.

Sometimes, you only need to try.

"What a strange man," the monkey-boy shrugged and hopped off the rooftop, bracing himself as he entered the hideout proper.

"I wonder if I'll see him again..."

 

\-------------------------------

 

And so the wheel of destiny turns on it's axle

for the day that, before long, shall come to be (1)  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
The End  
\-------------------------------  
hiwa(03) datta  
28/5/2003

(1):  
Translated from a Japanese doujinshi (Custodio Angel, by Kitakami Ryo, to be precise). Beautiful poetry. All thanks to Swat Kikaku for the text, no profit is or SHOULD be made out of the brief two liner appearance.

By the way:  
Lord Avon wrote 'Wishing Upon a Star', NOT Ipsen. Definitely not Ipsen Avon, either. Just twisting things a bit here and there - see chapter four for more information. :D

Further notes:  
With the completion of the side stories, this story has come to it's final closure. Thank you so much for hanging on, reading, and perhaps even enjoying the fic! Your support is shown in every fibre of the fic. Muchos gracias, once again!!


End file.
